Distracted Driving Costs and Consequences

Comprehensive Costs of Distracted Driving

"Crashes in which at least one driver was identified as being distracted resulted in 3,267 fatalities, 735,000 nonfatal injuries and damaged 3.3 million vehicles in property-damage-only crashes in 2016," The NHTSA report said, "This represents about 10 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities and 18 percent of all nonfatal crashes. These crashes cost $39.7 billion, roughly 16 percent of all economic costs from motor vehicle crashes." Distracted driving was just one of five types of adverse driver behavior studied by the NHTSA The others were alcohol use, speeding, failure to wear a seat belt and riding a motorcycle without a helmet The actual reports of distracted driving played a role in 10 percent of automotive fatalities and 17 percent of injury crashes, according to the study.In addition to crashes, distracted driving leads to lost quality of life and to traffic congestion, which estimates put at $28 billion a year in damages, including the added fuel costs.

Cognitive

A cognitive distraction happens when your mind wanders from the task of driving. Any time, while driving, we allow our minds to engage in other activities, we limit or delay our ability to process incoming information that could aid us in safely driving our vehicles on the roadway. Engaging in conversations while on your cell phone or with passengers in your vehicle, thinking about your to-do list, a big project at work, a fight you just had with your spouse or even simply daydreaming are all examples of cognitive distraction. When you interfere with your brain's ability to process driving information being received, you limit your ability to safely drive and avoid dangerous obstacles in our driving path.

Visual

Any activity the takes your eyes off the road and limits your ability to see and react to sudden events in around your vehicle can also lead to tragic crashes. We have many things and/or events occurring around us all the time that can cause us to move our focus away from the roadway while driving. Looking for items inside your vehicle (on the seat or floorboard), food or drink that may have spilled, looking at passengers while conversing, events happening along the sides of the roadway, electronic billboards (that change messages every 8-10 seconds), and many other attention distracting activities can induce us to look away from the roadway and not see impending dangerous events that enter our pathway, In essence, many times because of the visual distractions, we often end up driving blind for as long as we look away and at whatever speed we may be driving. None of us would intentionally put on blinders before we drive, but we often times look away from the roadway which essentially simulates driving with blinders on.

Other In-Vehicle Electronics

Cell phones are not the only technology we utilize while driving. In-car entertainment systems, navigation systems, vehicle weather controls and in-dash vehicle control systems are the main in-vehicle electronics that try and assist us with driving from one location to another safely, efficiently and effectively. However, they should be utilized with caution. All of these in-vehicle electronics can and should be activated prior to the beginning of our drive. Trying to manipulate any of these devices while driving takes our attention away from the roadway and interferes with our ability to arrive safely at our destinations. If you are going to utilize any of these systems, activate them prior to driving.

Video - 13 People Killed by Texting Driver

DISTRACTED DRIVER SLAMS HEAD ON INTO BUS, KILLING 13 PASSENGERS

Deadly Driving Distractions Cellphones

Dialing, talking, texting and/or listening while using a mobile cell phone involves all four types of distractions: manual, visual, cognitive, and auditory. It is the most visible type of distraction that affects us while driving. We carry our mobile cell phones with us all the time. When a cell phone notification chimes in, we respond immediately. This has almost become a conditioned response. We now crave instant attention or satisfaction which induces an immediate response. We do this so often, that we often do not think about the effect that utilizing our cell phones while driving has on impairing our ability to safely operate our vehicles. No longer can communication wait until we reach a phone at home or work.No text or phone call is worth hurting or killing someone in a vehicle crash. If it is that important, pull off to a safe place and then respond to your communication needs.

Definition of Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system-anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving. Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text can take your eyes off the road for approximately 5 seconds. At 40 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.You cannot drive safely unless the task of driving has your full attention. Any non-driving activity you engage in is a potential distraction and increases your risk of crashing.

Oregon Traffic Law under Oregon Revised Statute 811.507 Purpose of the Law

Get drivers on Oregon roads to FOCUS on the driving task and stop texting while driving in addition to getting drivers to use hands-free options when talking on a phone.

Emotional Issues While Driving

Have you ever driven to a location where you know you are going to be involved in a heated argument or just had that argument and are now driving away? The more you think about it, the madder you get.Or have you ever had a traumatic event occur in your life and need to drive somewhere to help console someone? The more you think about the tragic event, the more upset you become. Emotions can impact us tremendously. If you become angry and try to drive, you end up focusing on the object of your anger. This creates a cognitive distraction that can severely impact your ability to safely operate a vehicle. Nearly all of your attention can be on the object of your anger thereby limiting your ability to process incoming information while driving. If you become extremely sad about a very tragic event such as the loss of life of a friend, your sadness can overwhelm you. When you are emotionally upset, such as crying or sobbing and you attempt to drive, you'll not only impact your cognitive ability to drive, but also your visual ability. It's often best not to drive when anger or sadness overtly affects us.

Video-If you could stop time

Laws - Oregon Current Distracted Driving Law

Psychomotor - Four types of distraction

Manual Any time you take your hands off the steering wheel while driving, in order to perform other tasks such as eating food or drinking beverages, using a handheld cell phone, adjusting music stations on the radio or changing the music on in-car stereo systems, performing personal grooming tasks, reaching for something across the seat or on the floorboard, you are reducing your ability to respond to dangerous events encountered while driving. Using one hand to drive, while the other hand is performing any one of the tasks listed above reduces your ability to safely steer your vehicle away from trouble. Often times this leads to over-steering and causing your vehicle to fishtail back and forth as you attempt to correct each steering action using only one hand. The ultimate result can be crashing your vehicle with tragic consequences.

Children

Many of us have children in our lives. As any parent has already experienced, we are constantly transporting our children in our vehicles. Children can be very distracting and take our attention away while driving. They may be constantly asking questions, fussing or even having tantrums while you are trying to drive. If more than one child is in your vehicle, you could experience squabbles, teasing, or arguing over toys. When children pull our attention away from driving, the potential for tragedy becomes real. If issues arise with children in your vehicle while driving, it's best to pull over to a safe location and deal with those issues. Your primary goal is to get to your destination safely and provide the safest trip for you and your children.

Personal Grooming

Many of us lead busy lives. We often find ourselves not having enough time to get ready to leave for work or other destinations. Many of us find ourselves finishing our personal grooming while driving our vehicles.When we think of personal grooming while driving, a female putting on make-up or 'doing' their hair often comes to mind of. However, males are just as prone to grooming behaviors. Men have been seen trimming their beards, goatees or mustaches, brushing their teeth or combing their hair. The problem arises when attempting to groom ourselves while driving in that we need to take at least one hand off the steering wheel while utilizing the rearview mirror to see what we are doing. You've now just limited your ability to steer out of a dangerous situation encountered while driving and taken your eyes off the road, effectively driving blind. Time management has become a major issue with many people. Better to plan your grooming preparations prior to leaving your house.

Pets

Many of us love our pets. We like to take them with us when we drive somewhere. And, let's face it, many of our pets enjoy a car ride.Many of us don't give it a second thought about providing a safe and secure place in the vehicle when we transport our pets. You can often see pets running loose inside the vehicle or sitting on the driver's lap while driving.Pets need to be secured just as much as we secure other passengers including children. A loose pet in a vehicle can interfere with our safe operation of that vehicle. Our attention can be drawn away by a pet moving back and forth within the vehicle or, if seating on the lap of the driver, can interfere with the driver's ability to safely steer the vehicle. Using in-car pet carriers or safety harness systems can help keep the pets we love safe in the event of a sudden vehicle maneuver or crash.

Conversations With Passengers

Many of us often driving with one or more passengers in our vehicles. It is inevitable that conversations between passengers and the driver occur. This is not much of a problem with the passengers, but when the driver becomes involved in the conversation, his/her mind can be distracted and potentially their eyes can be taken off the roadway. This involves both visual and cognitive distractions. How many times have you seen vehicles driving around you with passengers inside and you can see that everyone including the driver is involved in a conversation just by the head movements and hand gestures. It becomes painfully obvious that the driver is not paying attention to the roadway. If some dangerous situation occurs in front of that distracted driver, they may not be able to see it in time to avoid a collision and risk the safety of all in their vehicle.

When we don't see the curve in the roadway, we may continue to drive straight off the side of the road.

Often driving distracted with your attention on your electronic device, you are not paying attention to your lane position or speed. We often see individuals that are weaving back and forth either within their lane or into other lanes because they are looking at their electronic devices and not at the roadway, Distraction can also keep us from maintaining a steady speed. Drivers can be seen looking at and/or manipulating their electronic devices and find themselves speeding up, slowing down or both. The driver involved in the below distracted driving crash seriously injuring the Oregon State Police Trooper driving this car.

Reading While Driving

This is not just limited to reading emails or text from our mobile cell phones. It can and has involved reading newspapers, magazines, and documents. Attempting to read anything can involve visual, cognitive and manual distractions. You can still see drivers with reading instruments propped up on the steering wheel while the driver attempts to steer, typically with their right hand on the outside edge of the steering wheel, and continuously looks down at what they are reading and then briefly up at the road. Obviously, this interferes with the driver's ability to put 100% of their attention on their driving. Many times this can be seen as the vehicle on the roadway is unable to maintain their lane, speeding up and slowing down, and delayed response to changing traffic issues. This is an extremely dangerous driving activity. If it's that important you need to read something, take a moment and move your vehicle to a safe location off the roadway.

Video-No Good Reason

Video - This Could Save Your Life - Jacy Good - Distracted DrivingThese are the types of real-life scenarios we are trying to prevent! There are over 3,000+ stories of death and tragedy similar to this that occur every year in the United States. Jacy Good interviews teens who regularly text and drive and changes their whole perspective. Good is a public speaker and safe driving advocate. After losing both of her parents and barely surviving a car crash caused by a distracted driver, Good lobbies for laws banning cell phones behind the wheel. She launched the website Hang Up and Drive with her husband to raise awareness and educate the country about the dangers of using a phone while driving .

Eating and Drinking

We have become a drive-thru culture. Restaurants and stores have done a great job of helping us try and save time while driving. We can now have breakfast, lunch, and dinner while driving on the road. The biggest problem is that eating and/or drinking can take our attention away from the roadway. When we consume food while driving, we often have to take one hand off the steering wheel. This limits our ability to safely maneuver around obstacles in the roadway when only one hand is steering. We may also have to take our eyes off the road in order to find and retrieve food or put it back from where we got it. It can get really dangerous when we have a cheeseburger in one hand, steer with the other, have our fries in our lap and our drink in the cup holder in the center console. One or more of these items are typically not secured and in an emergency driving maneuver, can spill all over the seat or floor and induce us to take our eyes off the road.

Common Driving Consequences Attributed to Distracted Driving:

When distracted driving takes our attention away from the roadway, there are a myriad of consequences that could happen to us. The most common consequence seen are run-off-road driving errors. When there are cognitive and/or visual distractions, our ability to maintain a safe position on the roadway is compromised. The resulting distracted driving actions can decrease our attention to maintaining this safe roadway position and cause us to drift off the roadway. We don't usually realize it until it's too late and we've crashed into a tree, a hillside or rolled down an embankment. Often cross-over crashes accompany run-off-road distracted driving errors. If, while distracted, we find ourselves drifting off the roadway, we may try to steer back onto the roadway, Often, drivers are so surprised by this event that in their fear of crashing they violently oversteer back across the roadway and into the path of an oncoming vehicle. In Oregon, we can find ourselves driving on curved rural roadways or mountain passes with curves. When we become distracted while driving in this type of terrain, we don't see or recognize a curve in the roadway ahead.

Auditory

Whether you realize it or not, we use our hearing while driving. We listen for sounds of vehicles approaching us from behind, emergency vehicles with their sirens on, even the sounds our tires make on different roadway surfaces due to changing weather conditions. Most of our auditory distractions come from within our own vehicles. They can include a conversation with passengers, our own music systems, cell phones and even sophisticated navigations systems. Just as much as we need to be able to see what's going on while we drive, we need to be able to hear things going on outside the vehicle while driving in order to safely maneuver our vehicles around potentially dangerous situations.

Effective Date: October 1st, 2017 (Updated July 1st, 2018)

While operating a motor vehicle, It is illegal to drive while HOLDING or USING a mobile electronic device (Cell phone, tablet, laptop etc.).A driver may ACTIVATE or DEACTIVATE the device with a single touch or swipe (but NOT WHILE HOLDING the phone). Under the law, all drivers 18 years of age and older MUST use a hands-free device to talk on the phone. With the exception of an emergency situation, drivers under 18 are not allowed to talk on the phone while operating a motor vehicle, not even with a Bluetooth headsetA hands-free device is a voice-operated device such as a Bluetooth headset that allows operation WITHOUT touching the phone,Texting while driving is PROHIBITED for all drivers regardless of age. Because of the significant number of traffic crashes, injury and death in Oregon and across the nation, the Oregon state legislature significantly reduced the exemptions, clarified the description and increased the penalties for distracted driving, passing House Bill 2597. An update to the law was passed in 2018 under House Bill 4116, effective on July 1st, 2018.