Are You a Distracted Driver?
The Dangers of Distracted Driving
Distracted driving causes about one-quarter of all traffic crashes. Unfortunately, thousands of these wrecks result in serious injuries or even death each year. At Titan Auto & Tire in Chesterfield, VA, we have built our business around car care, but what we care about even more than autos are the people who drive them. In fact, our mission statement reflects our commitment to our customers and our concern for your safety. We want to remind our customers and all drivers that nothing is more important than saving lives and preventing injuries by avoiding driving distractions.
Common Competitors for Your Attention
If something takes your attention away from the road, conditions, signals/signs, or other drivers/vehicles, it’s a distraction, and it’s dangerous. Thus, a driving distraction can occur even if it isn’t intentional or for a “bad” reason. Common attention-stealers fall into three categories: visual, manual, or cognitive. Visual distractions cause you to look away from your path of travel. Anything that leads you to remove your hands from the wheel is categorized as a manual distraction. Cognitive interruptions are those things that make you think about something other than driving.
Many seemingly innocent or commonplace activities in those categories can spell disaster. Common examples include interacting with passengers (including watching their faces, passing items back and forth to them, arguing, or talking), using a phone (holding it, talking, texting, searching for music, or using the GPS), reaching for things, eating, smoking, singing/dancing, and making changes to the radio, heat/air conditioning, cruise control, etc. Even though nobody intends to cause an accident by taking care of little tasks while driving, it doesn’t make it any less dangerous.
To minimize your risk, plan ahead and think about the simple choices you make. For instance, you can turn off your phone or use an app to prevent notifications while you’re moving. Also, be sure to set your GPS before you take off rather than when you’re hurdling full speed down the road. Similarly, make a stop for a rest break if you’re tired or need to eat. In addition to taking care of your own needs, assist your children in getting settled before you begin driving, as well. Make sure they’re buckled properly into car seats or seat belts and that they can reach what they’re likely to want while you’re moving. Taking simple preventive steps such as these can greatly improve your safety and that of your passengers and fellow drivers by ensuring that your full attention is on driving.
Our Attention is on YOU
At Titan Auto & Tire, we focus on your safety, so we want you to focus on the road.