Column: Maryanne Law, Families First

Question: I know that law enforcement has specific “extra” enforcement periods when they target seat belt use and alcohol impaired driving. Is there a specific enforcement focus for distracted driving, too?

Answer: April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Every year, nearly 500,000 Americans are injured and 6,000 more are killed as a result of distracted drivers losing control of their vehicles while texting, talking on cell phones, eating or programming their radios or navigation devices.

Clearly, distracted driving is a growing danger to highway safety. According to the National Safety Council, a staggering 81 percent of drivers ages 18 to 49 admit that they talk on a cell phone while driving. A recent study by AAA reported that 46 percent of teens admit to texting while driving.

Some businesses have established formal distracted driving policies because they are concerned about the safety of their employees and because they have decided to “lead by example.” Our families would be wise to adopt these same policies for everyone who has driving privileges:

• Turn cell phones off or put on silent or vibrate before starting the car.

• Pull over to a safe place if a call must be made or received while on the road.

• Consider modifying voice mail greeting to indicate that you are unavailable to answer calls or return messages while driving.

• Inform friends of your driving safety decision as an explanation of why calls may not be returned immediately.

• Pull over to a safe place and put the vehicle in park to make adjustments to a GPS or other navigating device.

In Minnesota, April 19 is the day police officers will be making a special focus of enforcing distracted driving violations.

If you would like to talk with a parenting specialist about the challenges in child raising, call the toll-free Parent WarmLine at 1-888-584-2204/Línea de Apoyo at 877-434-9528. For free emergency child care call Crisis Nursery at 1-877-434-9599. Check out www.familiesandcommunities.org.

 

Maryanne Law is the executive director of the Parenting Resource Center in Austin.