Express Staff
The McLennan RCMP Detachment would like to provide the public with an update about distracted driving and safe driving tips.
What is distracted driving?
. Distracted driving is doing anything that takes your eyes off the road, because accidents happen in a fraction of a second.
. Distracted driving is using your cell phone, using a GPS, eating, playing with the radio, checking your makeup, reading, being distracted by a pet passenger, anything that takes your eyes off the road.
It only takes a second and a collision can occur
. Keep your eyes on the road, hands on the wheel – put your focus where it should be.
. Multi-tasking while driving could prove to be a fatal error in judgment.
Distracted driving is dangerous
. You are 23 times more likely to be involved in a collision if you text while driving and four times more likely if you talk on a cell phone (hand-held or hands-free) while driving. (Virginia Transportation Institute, 2010).
A study showed that nearly 80 per cent of collisions and 65 per cent of near-collisions involved some form of driver inattention up to three seconds prior to the event (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute).
. Nearly three out of four Canadian drivers admit to distracted driving (Leger Marketing, 2010).
. If you talk on a cell phone while driving, you are just as impaired as somone with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08. (University of Utah, 2006).
. Research by Alberta Transportation indicates that approximately one-in-four collisions involve driver distraction (Distracted Driving & Cell Phone Use While Driving 2007).
Traffic Stats (Jan. 1 – Sept. 30, 2016)
. 6,745 tickets were issued for distracted driving in Alberta RCMP jurisdictions in 2016 as of Sept. 30, 2016.
. 3,493 people were injured in motor vehicle collisions in Alberta RCMP jurisdictions in 2016, as of September 2016.
. 158 people died in motor vehicle collisions in Alberta RCMP jurisdictions in 2016, as of September 2016.