Distracted Driving

Summer brings fair weather and vacations -- so it's no surprise that lots of people head out on the road in their cars. Apparently, it's also the season for distracted driving. According to statistics, there's a spike in car accident deaths every year from June through August. The increase is an eye-popping 29 percent above the number of accident deaths from December through February. Why the sharp increase in car accidents and related deaths during the summer? Researchers say that the increase is largely the result of distracted driving. Data that's been collected from over 20,000 drivers...

Do you know a driver who is constantly checking his or her text messages while behind the wheel? Maybe you know someone who gets so distracted listening to a morning podcast that he or she has accidentally cut someone off in traffic? If so, you might want to give that person some warning that the Highway Patrol is watching for just that sort of thing -- especially along the nation's first "Safety Corridor." The section of highway that's been given that distinction is the part of Interstate 76 and Interstate 80 between State Routes 534 and 193 near Akron and Cuyahoga Falls. It's one of the...

If everyone knows that distracted driving is a problem, why does it keep happening? It turns out, that many drivers may essentially talk themselves into believing that only other drivers fall prey to distractions -- while justifying their own distracted behavior. How does that happen? It starts with a fairly common psychological fallacy. First of all, the majority of people -- an incredible 90 percent -- believe that they're better-than-average drivers. That's a statistical impossibility. The same psychological trick that makes people believe that they're better drivers than most other...

There's more evidence than ever that cellphones and driving are two things that shouldn't go together. As a result of the problems with distracted driving, there are lots of state and local ordinances out there prohibiting the use of cellphones while behind the wheel. Do they actually work? Is it time to try something else? The data says that anti-phone laws don't work The newest data indicates that cellphones are a factor in 52 percent of all roadway accidents. In addition, researchers found out that it really doesn't make much difference whether the driver lives in a state with anti-phone...

You would have to be living under a rock not to know that distracted driving, particularly through cellphone use, is a huge issue these days. State have passed laws against it. There are reminders not to text and drive on billboards, on flashing roadside signs and on rental car dashboards. There are commercials about it. Even phone manufacturers have gotten into the act -- some phones automatically shut off if you're traveling at certain speeds unless you manually tell them you're a passenger, not the driver. Games and apps you can use on your phone contain similar warnings and disabling...

Ohio changed the speed limit of a number of its highways from 65 mph to 70 mph back in 2013. Now, state officials are considering changing some of those roads back to the reduced speed. A recent report indicates that there has been an uptick of 24 percent in the number of crashes on the roads that have the increased speed limit -- even though the difference is only five miles per hour. In addition, there's been a 22 percent increase in fatal crashes as well on the same roads. Given the results of the study, the state already has plans to focus additional patrol efforts on three sections of...

The week of October 21, 2017, celebrates National Teen Driver Safety initiatives across the country. If you're a parent of a teenager that's old enough to drive, what are the most important things to address with your teenage driver? 1. Safety Contracts A safety contract might sound a little hokey, but it can be an effective tool for parents and teens to use to communicate expectations about what parents expect when a teen is behind the wheel -- and what consequences will be faced if the teen fails to live up to that contract. Contracts can include no texting or no cellphones on at all while...

Distracted driving has become a major menace on the road these days. While it may have always been somewhat of a problem, the advent of the mobile phone has made the problem worse than ever before. Exactly what are drivers doing with their phones these days when they should be focusing on the road instead? According to a recent study, Google Maps is the number one app being pulled up on drivers' phones while they're on the road. That's probably an understandable use of the device, although drivers would be far safer if they remember to activate their device before they get into traffic or...

Ohio's roadways are an important part of the nation's major trucking routes. This means that motorists should be especially careful while sharing the roadways with big rigs. Truckers, for their part, need to be equally cautious. Unfortunately, not everybody on the road seems to realize the dangers of distracted driving -- no matter how many warnings they're given. Three separate accidents occurred in just one evening on a small section of I-76 as a result of inattentive drivers. The first accident involved a semi-truck whose distracted driver didn't slow down when he came upon traffic...

Ohio's driving laws just got tougher and, if lawmakers get their way, the changes aren't going to be over. Studies have shown that more people are waiting until after their 18th birthday to get their driver's license. Those who do so get to skip the mandatory driver's education requirements that younger drivers face. As a consequence, there are a lot of first-time drivers out there who haven't had any safety classes on distracted driving -- and it's making the roads less safe. To curb the problem, the new rules require adult applicants for a driver's license to pass their test on the first...