April is Distracted Driving Awareness month, it was previously only a week but statistics are showing that accidents due to distracted drivers are increasing. Many wonder why it is getting worse when there are laws in place to deter drivers from picking up their smart phone while driving. Some say that the reason for the increase is that people are much more tied to their phones now and cannot ignore them when the little red light is flashing. Others say that our lives are much busier than they once were and time spent in the car is looked at as free time to catch up on things which smart phones allow us to manager more tasks including responding to emails. But time spent in the car is not a safe time to be distracted by the phone.
Texting while driving increases the risk of a crash by 23 times, reported a study done by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. There are many different causes of accidents but there is one that is highly preventative, picking up your cell phone while driving is entirely up to the person driving, and it needs to have higher consequences or more and more people may be hurt. It will also increase you auto insurance rates if you are involved in an accident while texting. It seems that distracted drivers are on the rise which shows that the consequences for cell phone use while driving is not being combated with high enough fines. Please visit this blog:- online-marketing-systems.com
Insurance has partnered with Cell-control to provide a safeguard against using a smart phone while driving. They have introduced a new technology that limits mobile device activity while the car is moving. There is a free app that can be downloaded which is partnered with the device being plugged in to the cars OBD port and it is ready to go. The technology will allow users to block text messages, emails, certain apps and phone calls when the car is in motion. It also enables users to set up and send email notifications when the device is disabled or removed or if someone attempts to delete the app. This is a safe guard for parents with young drivers and will help teens to learn not to pick up their phone while driving. If a Bluetooth device is enabled in the car there is an option to allow phone calls.
Texas has also launched a campaign aimed at reducing the number of distracted drivers by presenting a bill that would make it a criminal offence to text, read or write while driving. But it would allow drivers to text at a stop sign or use their phone for GPS. This bill was thrown out by Gov. Rick Perry in 2011 as he felt it was “a government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults”. But with all the accidents being caused by the distraction of people the rules should be changed and people should realize the true harm that is caused by being distracted while driving.
Distracted drivers affect everyone like drunk drivers do and some say that they would like the penalties for distracted driving to be as severe as penalties for drunk driving as it is a choice made by the driver.