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Last week I attended the first "Just Drive" presentation at the Dodgeville High School, put on by several nurses in the Upland Hills Health ER Department. The nurses were also accompanied by Hannah Laufenberg, a Highland student who sustained a severe brain injury after a car accident last July.
I listened as the ER nurses went through a Power Point presentation and described to the students what distracted driving is. Distracted driving is anything that takes your attention away from driving, which I quickly realized could be just about anything!
As they listed the numerous things that are considered distracting to a driver (taking a drink of water, snacking on some chips, changing a CD, checking your rear view mirror to make sure you're not having a bad hair day) I realized I was very guilty of driving distracted. And I had a feeling I wasn't the only one.
Ever since the presentation, I have become more aware of my own bad driving habits.
I change the radio. I eat on the go. I talk on my cell phone.
I have become even more aware of everyone else's bad driving habits, including those of my friends and family.
They change songs on their Ipods. They check their email while they're driving. They divert their eyes from the road for just a few seconds to reach for something that fell under the seat.
Even though texting and driving is the most alarming distraction, more awareness needs to be given to all those little distractions that you don't really even notice or think about. I believe having the "Just Drive" campaign and giving these presentations is really a great way to get people thinking about distracted driving.
The nurses' guest speaker, Hannah, really drove distracted driving home for me. She was changing a song on her Ipod when her accident occurred, something thousands of people probably do every day while driving.
April is Distracted Driving month. I ask you to assess your own driving habits and see if you can correct any of your own distractions.
There's a very simple way we can all be proactive about distracted driving. We can put down our cell phones, leave the radio alone, eat before we get in the car. We can also educate others and correct them when they are driving distracted.
We can "Just Drive."