Pinsonneault Driving School

Posts Tagged ‘driving and texting’

A Reminder That April Is National Distracted Driving Month

Pinsonneault Driving School would like to remind all new and past students that April is National Distracted Driving Month.

We would ask each student to observe drivers and pedestrians each time you are out driving, or riding with someone else and look to see how many of them are texting or talking on the phone while driving.

Also important to note is the number of pedestrians you see texting while standing at a corner of an intersection, and pedestrians crossing the street while looking down at their cellphones.

Texting while driving and pedestrian texting is a growing problem nationwide and for those doing it, their very lives could be at stake.

The growing popularity of smartphone technology is replacing some frequent home computer functions, such as emailing, social networking and banking especially for the younger generation. This means that people are using their cellphones more than ever, even when driving.

Texting while driving is responsible for more than 1.6 million car crashes every year. It is also the cause of over 325,000 injuries and more than 7 teenage deaths per day. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explain that driving and texting is six times more dangerous than driving when intoxicated.

Two years ago Wired magazine reported in less than two years, your smartphone could be your only computer.

Here is a quote from the magazine:

“With each passing season, another wave of mobile devices is released that’s more capable and more powerful than the generation preceding it. We’re at the point where anyone armed with a current model smartphone or tablet is able to handle almost all of their at-home—and even at-work—tasks without needing anything else. We’re living proof: for the last two years, WIRED has been able to cover events like CES almost exclusively using our smartphones.”

As we now see, the move from home computers to smartphones continues to rise, and so will the problem of texting while driving and pedestrian texting.

Few people will ever open a laptop while on the road, but with all the advanced and growing technology of smartphones, most people won’t be without the handy little device. In fact, most owners of smartphone never let the device too far out of their immediate access.

Its a given that straying your eyes from the road is a danger in and of itself, and when you add in focusing your brain on processing a text message, or returning a text message, the amount of focus taken away from the road increases exponentially.

Many States have outlawed, or are in the process of outlawing texting while driving, with some States even banning talking on the phone while driving.

For these reasons, Pinsonneault Driving School will increase the focus on the dangers of texting while driving and pedestrian texting and solutions for leaving the smartphone alone while on the road in our future classes.