You may think that distracted driving is not a major issue because you have never been involved in a distracted driving related incident. The numbers, however, clearly signify that this is a big problem for drivers today. This is why April has been deemed Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

As late as 2019, over 3,000 people were killed in car crashes involving a distracted driver. The much bigger number is the amount of people injured. Over 400,000 people in the U.S. were a victim of distracted driving. That’s huge!

Distracted Driving is More Dangerous Than You Realize

Both the Center for Disease Control Injury Center and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration track incidents of distracted driving. According to the CDC, sending or reading a text while driving 55 miles per hour is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed.

You would never think of doing something that reckless and jeopardizing your safety along with everyone else on the road, but this is the level of carelessness we exhibit when we pick up our phones while driving. Therefore, we need to keep our hands on the wheel and off our phones.

A Simple Setting Can Make a Big Difference

One way that you can honor Distracted Driving Awareness Month this April is by changing the settings on your smart phone. Not everyone knows that Apple iPhones have a “do not disturb while driving” option built in. When going to your iPhone’s settings and turning on the do not disturb feature, you will notice an option to turn it on while driving.

Your iPhone will then automatically stay silent and the screen stays dark when it senses that you are driving. There are other tweaks you can make to the iPhone to ensure the feature keeps you from being distracted while driving. Many Android based phones have a similar option and a quick Google search of your model will provide instructions on how to activate the feature.

Beyond setting up your phone, the best way to avoid distracted driving is not getting behind the wheel at all and using quality chauffeured ground transportation like Atchison Transportation Services. You can work or relax as a professional driver keeps his or her eyes on the road and gets you wherever you need to be safely. Call Atchison Transportation Services at 800-346-7129 or book online today!