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Learn About the Three Specific Types of Distracted Driving

Thanks to many campaigns from local and federal law enforcement, most people today are aware of the fact that distracted driving is dangerous. However, at Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas, we find that many people are not aware of precisely what distracted driving is. The picture of a person using their cell phone often pops up when a person is thinking about distracted driving, but it is far from the only example of this dangerous activity.

Begin by Understanding What Distracted Driving Is

The first step is to make sure that you are aware of what distracted driving actually is – because it is not just texting while driving. Distracted driving refers to any activity that takes your attention from the road while you are driving. This can also be called “multitasking” when the person doing it wants to put a positive spin on it.

The truth is that distracted driving – or multitasking – is not safe. The human brain cannot give 100% of attention to two different activities. It cannot give 50% to both activities – much of the brain’s attention ends up lost in the process of switching from one activity to another.

The CDC Names Three Types of Distracted Driving

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there are three specific types of dangerous distracted driving: Visual in which the eyes are taken from the road, manual in which the hands are taken from the wheel, and cognitive in which the driver takes their mind off of their driving. You can see that texting and driving is especially dangerous because it involves all three types of distracted driving.

The Statistics on Texting and Driving

If that is not enough evidence that texting and driving is dangerous, consider that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that nearly ten people are killed and 1,000 are injured due to distracted driving every single day. This is entirely preventable if people would keep their eyes on the road.

Likewise, many of these cases involve cell phone use. The NHTSA also reports that 32% of people admit to texting while driving, while just 27% did a few years ago.

A Simple Example to Show How Dangerous Texting and Driving Is

If you or a loved one does not fully believe that texting and driving can lead to car accidents, then consider this: When a person is driving their car at 55 miles per hour, they will go the length of a football field in five seconds. The average time it takes to read a text message is five seconds. This means that when a person “quickly” glances down to read their text message, by the time they look up they have driven the length of a football field without looking at the road.

If you are injured in this type of accident, or you have lost a loved one in a distracted driving case, we urge you to contact Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas at 909-982-0707 for a free legal consultation.