Lasting progress on distracted driving—reducing accidents, injuries and death—will only come from educating drivers about the risks.
The risks of technology on the nation’s roads were the focus of an annual meeting of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). The role of technology in distracted driving is indisputable: talking on the phone while driving makes you 4 times more likely to crash, and texting is significantly worse.
The nonprofit GHSA suggested a shift in the way we think about driving, rather than focusing on technology to solve the problem of distracted driving.
Driving in airplane mode
A California Highway Patrol commissioner at the GHSA meeting suggested driving should become like flying: there will be a set period of travel time when no calls are made, texts exchanged or emails sent.
This way of thinking will require a gradual cultural shift: we cannot be always available to our workplaces, or to our family and friends. When you are operating a motor vehicle, you are not accessible.
Other organizations, such as the Casey Feldman Foundation, have taken up with cause with national education programs like the End Distracted Driving project.
See the report on the GHSA conference from The Huffington Post.
