April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Are you a distracted driver?

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in the United States, according to Amerisure. This data also shares that in 2015, 3,450 people died from distracted driving. With distractions being a common issue for today’s drivers, how can we spread the word across our nation about the serious impact that distracted driving has?

Although you may be thinking that you are an excellent, “in control” driver, all it takes is a split second with your eyes being off the road to get into a motor vehicle accident. From eating and talking passengers to music and technology, distractions seem to be inevitable. Below are three (of the many) ways a driver can be distracted and how to combat todays most common distractions:

Problem: 1 in 4 motor vehicle accidents are caused by texting and driving. The chances of a crash because of any reason is increased by 23 times when you are texting. Even if the crash is another driver’s fault, you will probably have been able to avoid it if you had been looking at the road instead of the phone.

Solution: Send all of the text messages and answer all of your app notifications before starting your vehicle. There are several apps that you can download for your phone that will allow you to send an automatic text message to your contact list while your vehicle is in motion to respond to your contacts, alerting them you are driving and you will respond back when the vehicle is not moving.

Problem: Eating and driving increases the likelihood of crashes by 80 percent, according to an estimate by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Solution: Eat only when the vehicle is in park. If you are on a long drive, find a safe spot to park your vehicle on the side of the road in a designated area to eat.

Problem: Driving while fatigue was responsible for 72,000 crashes, 44,000 injuries, and 800 deaths in 2013, according to an estimate by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Solution: Do not operate a vehicle if you feel as though your mind is distracted from concentrating 100% on the road. Whether that is due to fatigue, stress, etc., only operate a vehicle when you are feeling entirely awake and are able to drive safe. Contact a family or friend to drive your vehicle for you, or use a ride share service

From all of us at Westboro Toyota, we encourage you to drive alert and safe.