Collegiate Times

Say hello to the new wave of distracted driving, the latest member of a dangerous family of road hazards: driving while texting.

Sounds as serious as a DUI. This branch of distracted driving is dominating the news.

DWT is considered at least a secondary offense in most states; it is a primary offense in some. A primary offense is a violation that warrants being pulled over. Secondary offenses get tacked onto primary offenses but are not reasons for police to stop violators.

Authorities are cracking down on DWT, and decision-makers are writing legislation imposing harsher sanctions. In some cases, the terms “DWT” and “distracted driving” are used interchangeably.

We’ve all seen out-of-control DWT drivers. However, that doesn’t mean it is the only and most dangerous form. People have radios or iPods hooked up, along with a GPS above the dash, vanity mirrors in the sun visors, TVs in the back, pet passengers, cigarettes, maps, newspapers, and food and drink.

Some haphazard drivers try to shave, apply makeup in the car or eat a plate of food with a knife and fork.

Distracted driving includes a whole spectrum of behaviors. Don’t let the issue du jour make you forget there are still many other distractions in the car.

Our own Virginia Tech Transportation Institute reports 80 percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes result from driver inattention within three seconds of the crash.

Three seconds!

We’ve all done it: torn our eyes away from the road to skip a song on an iPod, change the radio station or fish for that elusive pack of cigarettes or gum. It’s harmless, right? What could happen?

Do the math: You’re going 35 mph and you glance away for those crucial three seconds. You’ve just traveled 159 feet — more than half a football field — without even watching the road. And that’s at only 35 mph. Think about the wreckage a distracted driver could cause going 50 mph or more. 

Think about the manslaughter charges, the insurance claims, the guilt, just from fishing for a lost item under the seat for three seconds.

Distracted driving caused 5,500 deaths and half a million injuries in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There are still more than 200 million drivers out there, many of whom may be dedicating their hands and attention to other pursuits in the car and not the most important task in front of them.

A University of Utah study discovered distracted driving resulted in a driver as bad as, or even worse than, a drunk driver. We don’t want to drive drunk, do we? Why should we
be any less forgiving of distracted drivers?

The Highway Loss Data Institute conducted a study comparing collision insurance claims before and after DWT legislation and found there were more accidents after the
fact. 

The problem has become more acute because people not only refuse to obey the law but have become even more distracted by their attempts to evade it. These laws also narrowly focus on texting, excluding from focus all other equally distracting activities.

Texting is not the only distraction in the car.

Keep the cell phone tucked away, your iPod on a playlist, your GPS pre-routed with the voice guidance on and your eyes on the road. Consider what the police will say when they pull you over: “Keep your hands where I can see them — on
the wheel.”

Do it now before a police officer commands you or before you’re distracted driving turns your life and the lives of others into a twisted wreck.

A version of this article appeared in the Nov 5 issue of the Collegiate Times.