It’s official!

It’s official!

Driving while talking on the phone, eating, reading or putting on makeup is dangerous!

By Michael Binstock

Acorn Automotive Editor

We have all seen them. You’re on the freeway and alongside you, or passing at speed, is a driver talking on their phone, drinking and possibly reading. It just doesn’t work. The left knee was not made to control the steering wheel and the inside of a speeding car is not a restaurant, an office or the living room.

I have been as guilty as anyone else. I use the phone and check my pager while driving and the car’s manufacturer has provided me with handy cup holders.

According to a new survey from the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) many drivers engage in activities that can lead to distracted driving. And lapses in driver attention plays a role in about half of all traffic crashes. Surprise! With 6.3 million total accidents reported to law enforcement annually, driver inattention is a factor in approximately 4,000 to 8,000 crashes every day. Distracted driving costs the nation between $40 and $80 billion annually.

"People often blame the weather, the vehicle they’re driving or the other drivers for causing the sometimes tragic outcomes of a traffic crash," said Mark Edwards, a NETS board member from AAA. "But when you look at the actual cause of the crash, you’ll often find that it was the driver’s own behavior behind the wheel that was the distraction."

So why is it that everything in the car seems to encourage us to make it what it is not? The car started out as transportation between two points. The only distractions were the kids in the back seat fighting and my mother could hit either of us while still keeping two hands on the wheel!

The radio was tuned to the parent’s favorite station and that was it. Then along came 8-tracks, cassettes and now CD’s. It is not easy to extract a CD from a jewel case at home. Attempting that activity while driving at 75 mph is crazy!

The NETS survey revealed that high percentages of drivers acknowledge engaging in activities that can lead to distracted driving. Nationally, nearly three out of four say that talking to passengers is something they do routinely while driving, nearly half say they adjust radio or climate controls while behind the wheel and a quarter admit to eating or reading or frequently picking up something that fell. Just under a fifth of drivers say they talk on the phone, while only 15 percent say they do none of these things while driving.

Everything about the modern car is designed to make it feel like home. Another survey, I don’t remember which one, gave the statistic that families with children eat at least two family meals a week in the car! A manufacturer boasts that their mini-van has 17 cup-holders.

Current radio ads from a major player in the cell phone industry suggests that we pull of the road when taking or placing a call. That is just not going to happen. In some European countries using a hand held phone while driving can get you a ticket and phones installed in cars have to be hands-free and built-in.

Lets face it, while there are drive-thru’s we will eat and drink in the car while driving. While cell phones get smaller and more complicated we will still use them. Some portable phones have both internet access and stock quotes and I need to check my portfolio any time. And all the other things we do in the car that distract us from driving will continue. We are humans and we have a long history of doing what is both unsafe and stupid.

That’s my opinion, how about yours!.