What Not to Do While Driving

According the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, there were 37,261 fatalities reported from 34,017 fatal vehicle accidents. 5,290 of these fatalities were motorcyclists.

Sadly, many of these fatalities, and even more injuries, could be prevented each year if motor vehicle drivers pay more attention to their vehicle, the road, and their surroundings rather than to other distractions.

Cell Phones

Talking on a cellular phone while driving is not only dangerous and distracting, but it can be deadly. Many drivers feel it is safe if they use a Bluetooth hands free ear piece that allows them to talk to their caller without holding the phone to their ear. While this does free up your second hand, it still can be very distracting, especially if the other end of the phone call is business or family related.

If the phone call cannot wait until you reach your destination, pull off the road to take the call. The second that it takes to answer the phone just to say 'I will call you back when I get home' could be the deadliest thing you have ever done.

Texting and/or emailing from your cellular phone or PDA are even worse than simply talking. This type of communication takes more time to type your response and leaves a greater chance of error and accident. The best thing to do is to pull off of the road, or wait until you get to your destination, to answer the email or text message. Every letter you type, especially if you do not have a full QWERTY keyboard, is seconds that your eyes are not on the road and your hand is not on the wheel.

Makeup

Believe it or not, I have seen women applying makeup, usually mascara or eyeliner, while driving. This may seem like you are saving time by doing part of your routine in your car; but unfortunately, it could end up being the death of you, someone you love, or a complete stranger that someone else loves.

Applying makeup in the car, while driving, not only takes your hand or hands off the wheel, it also takes your eyes off the road and into the makeup mirror or even the rearview mirror. The solution is simple for this small task; apply your makeup at home, or touch it up when you reach your destination.

Reading

Before the days of Tom-Tom, Garmin, and Google Maps we used traditional paper maps and found our route and destination without the use of a computer. However, many people still use traditional paper maps. Reading anything while driving, a book, a newspaper, a magazine, the mornings business email, is dangerous. Watching a map and trying to route your trip while driving is even more dangerous.

If you cannot get a GPS for those long trips, map out your route at home. If during your travels you feel that you may have gone off course, pull over at the nearest rest stop, fast food restaurant, or even a convenience store. Not only may you be saving a life, you may find it even more helpful to know exactly where you are on the map by asking a clerk at the small gas station. Chances are the employees of convenience stores, gas stations, and restaurants are local to the area and will be able to give you an exact location on your map, as well as point you in the appropriate direction to get back on your original route.

The other forms of reading, such as books and newspapers, should never be done while driving. The last chapter of the book may be the most suspenseful, well written chapter in the history of books, but the outcome is not going to change if you wait until you are safely stopped to read it. The news will not change if you do not read it before you get to work; it will still be the same words on your lunch break.

Eating

Even though squeezing in a trip to McDonald's and getting to eat the food during a half hour lunch break may be trying, losing yourself in a Quarter Pounder while driving can be extremely dangerous. It is another hand off the wheel and seconds with your eyes on that juicy grilled burger instead of on the road.

Drinking - Alcoholic or Non Alcoholic

Even drinking a bottle or can of soda can be dangerous while driving. However, it is nearly impossible to make long trips without taking a swig of your favorite tea. Instead of using a container that requires you to tip it back, try using a straw. While this still can cause one to take their eyes off the road and hands off the wheel, it is only a fraction as dangerous as tipping back that bottle of Coke and having your eyes completely off the road.

Mixing alcohol and driving is twice as dangerous. Not only is it illegal to drink while driving, or drive after consuming alcohol, it is one of the most dangerous situations you may ever find yourself in. Even if you are below the legal blood alcohol limit for your state, your reaction times are lowered and your alertness is not as keen. Accidents that can often be avoided are not because the driver of the vehicle, or vehicles, was under the influence of alcohol.

Feeding A Child or Baby

You are on a long journey with the little ones, when the baby starts crying for her bottle and your toddler starts crying for his Gerber Graduates. Of course, you want to get them fed as soon as possible. Little bellies are not used having to wait for their normal snack time, and especially the little ones should not have to wait.

However, digging in the diaper bag to find the bottle or finger food can be deadly for you, your children, and whomever you may hit. Pull off the side of the road as soon as the conditions are safe so that you can properly care for your children. If you have a bigger child or another adult with, maybe they can contain the children so that you do not have to stop, but otherwise, it is much wiser and safer to pull off the road for two minutes.

In addition, a woman driver should never try to bottle or breast feed their baby in their lap while driving. Not only is this distracting to the driver in dozens of ways, it will actually distract other drivers who take notice to you. The front seat is not for children, even when they are properly belted. If you are involved in the slightest of accidents while holding your child in the front seat, the chances are good that your fender bender may be a fatality. Pull over and take care of the child or children, a few minutes off the road will not hurt, especially when lives are at stake.

Music

Looking for that new CD you just purchased can be a deadly decision. Even trying to find the scan and seek buttons on your car stereo can be distracting enough to cause an accident. Turn down the radio, stop singing and dancing as you drive, find the perfect CD before you put the car in gear, and be on your way, safely.

Speeding

It should go without saying that speeding is probably on the top of the list of things you should not be doing in a car. Speed limits are there for a reason, and for more than one. Speed limits are posted because they are the top speed at which the roads could be traveled at safely. In addition, many speed limits are posted with fuel economy in mind as well. Following the speed limits posted in your area may give you more reaction time in the event something does occur, as well as give you a boost in your gas mileage.

Looking For Something

Taking your eyes off the road for any reason is not a good idea. Even worse is taking your eyes off the road, moving half of your body to the other side of the car, and looking for something in your purse, or something you dropped onto the floor. Pull off the road and find your item, or if it can wait, just obtain it when you reach your destination. You are not going to die if you do not find the Snickers that you dropped before the five second rule is up, but you may save a life, including your own, by staying in your seat with your eyes on the road.

Making Out

I know you love your boyfriend, but waiting to grab his chin and force his lips to yours in a thirty second long lip lock while one of you is driving is not the smartest thing you are ever going to do. We have all seen that part of 2 Fast 2 Furious where Brian does the 'stare and drive', but off of the movie set, it isn't a good idea to have both eyes looking into someone else's, with or without the lip lock.

Driving with Your Knee or Elbow

So by now you may be thinking you have done all of these things already and came out the other side just fine, without incident. While that may be true, there is a first time for everything. Then you are going to tell me that when you are looking for your cigarette lighter, or the baby's bottle, or even lighting your cigarette you just use your knee or elbow to hold the steering wheel in place.

When we are taught to drive, we are taught to use our hands on the steering wheel. We are not taught to steer with our feet, our elbows, or our knees. The second you do not have a grip on the steering wheel while going over a new pothole you have never seen before, is the exact second your knee bounces off the steering wheel and you are left in a ditch on the side of the road, or worse, in the rear of another car or even in the living room of someone's house.

Your knee and elbow cannot grip the steering wheel and hold it steady through that rough spot on the road, and it is in no way accurate to keep the vehicle heading in a straight line. Keep your hands on the wheel, and keep your knees and elbows off the wheel.

Unfortunately, many of these practices are human nature. Millions of people do at least one of these things daily, and almost have become what they feel is a professional at risky driving. However, even in the instances where you may be alert enough to handle the situation, that motorcycle coming up behind you, looking for the right time to pass, may not be as alert as you feel you are.

One of the most important rules of driving is to remain alert at all times and aware of your surroundings. It may not be your risky behavior that causes the accident, but if you had been 100% focused and alert, the accident could have been avoided, and maybe even a life saved.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx