NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. There are 18 possible causes of distracted driving listed on the standardized crash reporting forms investigators are required to fill out. Only three of them refer to a mobile phone.
Smartphone use accounts for about 12% of fatal crashes involving a distracted driver," said Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas. "It's widely accepted that distracted driving crashes caused by cell phone use are highly under reported. It's hard to prove. It's hard to look after the fact and to determine whether a driver was looking at their phone when a crash occurs."
Anything that is something you are doing other than driving could be a distraction.
"Passengers, drivers adjusting climate or audio controls, reaching for something in the vehicle, eating or drinking, or being distracted by something outside the vehicle," Steward said. "Passing a crash on the side of the road and you're rubbernecking to take a look at it. It's just really important as drivers to focus on the road, making sure that you're focusing on driving. That's your main task when you're behind the wheel."
Vehicle crashes are a big danger, but that's not the only danger for a distracted driver.
"We also have to pay attention to pedestrians and cyclists," Steward said. "In 2020, there were 480 pedestrians, 83 cyclists and 14 other non-occupants killed in crashes that involved a driver who was reported to be distracted. The first six months of 2021, the last data available, pedestrian deaths nationwide had increased by 17% over the same period a year before."
In Kansas the Move Over law includes police, fire, ambulances, tow vehicles, KDOT or construction workers, utility vehicles and waste vehicles. Distraction is one reason why a driver might not move over and therefore put those roadside workers at additional risk.