Let’s Talk Safety: Message to Self: Distracted

This column addresses safety issues of interest to water and wastewater personnel, and will appear monthly in the magazine. The Journal is also interested in receiving any articles on the subject of safety that it can share with readers in the “Spotlight on Safety” column.

Message to Self: Distracted Driving Is Dangerous

Every year roadway accidents are the number one cause of fatal occupational injuries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that roadway incidents accounted for 24 percent of all work-related fatalities. While there are many reasons for these accidents, distracted driving is a growing safety concern for both occupational and personal-use motorists.

What is distracted driving? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines distracted driving as a specific type of inattention that occurs when drivers divert their attention away from driving to focus on another activity.

Distracted driving is divided into the following categories: S Visual distractions - Tasks that require the driver to look away from the roadway to visually obtain information. S Manual distractions - Tasks that require the driver to take a hand off the steering wheel and manipulate a device. S Cognitive distractions - Tasks that are defined as the mental workload associated with a task that involves thinking about something other than the driving task.

Distracted driving, therefore, is any activity that diverts a driver’s attention away from the task of driving. These distractions can be electronic, such as text messaging or using a navigation system, tablet, or cell phone; or more conventional, such as talking to a passenger or eating. Other common distractions include grooming, reading, eating, drinking, watching a video, or changing the radio station, CD, or MP3 player. Because text messaging—texting—involves cognitive, manual, and visual attention, it has received the most legal attention in recent years, including legislative bans on texting while driving.

It’s well documented in multiple university studies that drivers simply can’t safely do two things at once. These studies conclude that motorists talking on a hand-held or even a handsfree cell phone are as impaired as intoxicated drivers with a blood alcohol level of .08 (the minimum level that defines drunk driving in most states).

Here are a few eye-opening statistics from the NHTSA that may encourage drivers to limit their distractions: S Drivers who use hand-held devices while driving are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves or others. S In 2018, an estimated 421,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver—a nine percent increase from the estimated 387,000 people injured in 2017. S At any given moment across America, approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving.

Perhaps the most common distraction is cell phone use. About 89 percent (approximately 277million) of Americans have a cell phone, and 77 percent of those individuals report that at least some of the time they talk on the phone while driving.

Distracted driving has risen to unprecedented levels, and state legislatures have taken action. Eleven states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands have banned handheld cell phone use for all drivers, while 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam have banned text messaging by all drivers.

Everyone Has a Personal Responsibility

Common sense and personal responsibility are a big part of the solution. But the problem simply can’t be legislated away. President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2011 that prohibits more than four million federal employees from texting behind the wheel while working or while using government vehicles and communication devices, but accidents continue to occur.

One reason is that more portable technology is available now than ever before, and driver distractions have risen to unprecedented and alarming levels. People expect instant, real-time