Most of the time when you hear about car accidents or motorcycle accidents it is accompanied with a “oh he was drunk driving” or “he was high when he was driving his father's car”. What we don't talk about enough is “distracted driving”. There are many things that can constitute distracted driving; texting and driving is one as well as just fiddling around with your radio while driving. Anything that brings your eyes away from the road is considered distracted driving.

Why Distracted Driving is so dangerous:

Highway and freeway speeds can range from roughly 60MPH to 80MPH. If you are driving at a speed of about 55MPH and you look down at your phone, you essentially drive the length of a football field before you even look up from your phone. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 3,477 people were killed in distracted driving related accidents in 2015 alone. Distracted driving is almost like driving while under the influence because your main focus is not on the road. When you aren't looking at the road there is no way for you to react to what is happening around you. The people around you cannot control what you do or how fast your car is coming at them. If people could control other people, there would be no accidents.

How to Prevent Distracted Driving:

There are many simple things that you can do to decrease the amount of distracted driving that occurs. Here are a few things that you can do to prevent distracted driving within your own vehicle:

1. Put your phone in a place where you can't see it
2. Don't eat or drink while driving
3. Don't do your makeup on the way to work
4. Make sure that your passengers are aware that you can't have distractions
5. Make sure your front seat passenger takes care of the radio if you are listening to the radio

Of course, there are so many things that you can do to prevent distracted driving but these are a few of the more obvious and basic things you can do.

What We See at Utah Bike Law:

In 2015, Utah Bike Law, LLC took many cases involving vehicle accidents. About 60-70% of those cases involved distracted driving. These are staggering numbers and most of these accidents could have been prevented. Just focusing on the road is the most important thing that you can do while driving.

You can also make other people aware of how important it is to be fully focused on the road. The NHTSA has put out several videos to stress how important it is to not text and drive or to drive distracted. It is so important to keep our roads safe and drivable.

Utah Bike Law and its attorneys are licensed to practice law only in the State of Utah and maintain offices in Salt Lake City, Utah. No attorney client relationship is established by simply visiting this website.