Any event, activity, object, sound, or person that takes a driver’s attention away from the task of driving, is a distraction.
Each time you’re distracted, you:
- Reduce the likelihood you’ll detect a sudden hazard,
- Slow your reaction time, and
- Reduce your ability to avoid a crash.
At 55 mph, 5 seconds of inattention, is long enough for your vehicle to drive across a football field. That’s enough time for a car to swerve into your lane, a light to change, a child to run out in the street, or an object to fall from the truck in front of you.
Here are the three most common ways we drive distracted:
- Take our eyes off the road,
- Take our hands off the wheel, and
- Take our mind off our driving.