By Anne McCoy
As we head into the last long weekend of the summer and then head back to school, I thought it would be a great time to start an online discussion about distracted driving.
A recent study shows that when drivers take their eyes off the road for more than two seconds their crash risk doubles. A driver using a cell phone is FOUR TIMES more likely to be in a crash than a driver focused on the road.
In three seconds driving sixty kilometres per hour you travel fifty metres — that's the distance across half a football field. A momentary distraction can result in death or serious injury.
Unfortunately, my own run-in with a distracted driver occurred on a November afternoon in 2000 when my husband and I were on our way to a vacation. We were planning to fly out of Thunder Bay. As I attempted to make a left hand turn into a parking lot, our vehicle was suddenly struck by a vehicle following us. The force of the impact completely crushed the back end of our vehicle and pushed the trunk into the back seat. It actually sent our car crashing into the vehicle ahead of us! My car was crushed! The impact was so strong that when my vehicle was thrown forward, it actually caused the three vehicles ahead of us to collide into each other! The driver had been texting. I had several months of physiotherapy as a result to heal the whiplash. I guess you could say we were one of the fortunate ones....to have only a smashed car and whiplash to deal with. It could have been a lot worse.....scary though.
So, I want to hear from you! How have you been affected by distracted driving? Do you believe distracted driving is a problem? What do you think could be done to stop distracted driving? Let me know what you think!
All the best to you,
Anne
A recent study shows that when drivers take their eyes off the road for more than two seconds their crash risk doubles. A driver using a cell phone is FOUR TIMES more likely to be in a crash than a driver focused on the road.
In three seconds driving sixty kilometres per hour you travel fifty metres — that's the distance across half a football field. A momentary distraction can result in death or serious injury.
Unfortunately, my own run-in with a distracted driver occurred on a November afternoon in 2000 when my husband and I were on our way to a vacation. We were planning to fly out of Thunder Bay. As I attempted to make a left hand turn into a parking lot, our vehicle was suddenly struck by a vehicle following us. The force of the impact completely crushed the back end of our vehicle and pushed the trunk into the back seat. It actually sent our car crashing into the vehicle ahead of us! My car was crushed! The impact was so strong that when my vehicle was thrown forward, it actually caused the three vehicles ahead of us to collide into each other! The driver had been texting. I had several months of physiotherapy as a result to heal the whiplash. I guess you could say we were one of the fortunate ones....to have only a smashed car and whiplash to deal with. It could have been a lot worse.....scary though.
So, I want to hear from you! How have you been affected by distracted driving? Do you believe distracted driving is a problem? What do you think could be done to stop distracted driving? Let me know what you think!
All the best to you,
Anne
