- PUT IT AWAY
Place your mobile device out of sight to prevent temptation. - KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING
If using a navigation system, program your destination before driving. - PULL OVER
If you have to call or text while driving, pull off the road safely and stop first. - ASK PASSENGERS FOR HELP
If riding with someone, seek their help to navigate, make a call or send a message. - BE A GOOD PASSENGER
Speak out if the driver of your vehicle is distracted. - DON’T BE A DISTRACTION
Avoid calling or texting others when you know they are driving. - EVERYONE SHOULD PREVENT BEING INTEXTICATED
Just as drivers need to pay attention, so do pedestrians and bicyclists. Never call, text or play games while walking or cycling.
5 seconds of reading an email is like driving the entire length of a football field blindfolded.
AAA Washington Research Reveals Driver Behavior Under New Distraction Law
To recognize the one-year anniversary of Washington’s new Driving Under the Influence of Electronics or DUI-E law in 2018, AAA commissioned an independent study to find out what drivers knew about the law, if they were following it and what might change their mostly illegal and dangerous behaviors.
Of the more than 1,100 Washington drivers surveyed:
- 90% said they were aware of Washington’s DUI-E law, its restrictions and penalties
- 31% said they DID NOT use electronic devices while driving, listing their safety and the safety of their passengers as the primary motivator for putting down their phones
That means 69% percent of Washington drivers were still using their phones behind the wheel in mostly illegal and dangerous ways. The most common tasks are listed below. The AAA research also revealed that with few exceptions, the group most likely to break the law and engage in risky behavior is parents with children living at home.
Most Common Distractions
At least once in the past 30 days
Washington drivers are least likely to post to or read social media, look at websites or take a photo while driving. Of those who do, parents with children living at home are again engaging in this risky behavior more than all drivers combined.
Two of the most common tasks listed above, using hands-free technology to answer and make calls, are not banned by Washington’s DUI-E law. But the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has conducted research demonstrating hands-free tasks carry nearly the same cognitive workload as the hand-held tasks, making them distracting and unsafe to do while driving.
Taking your eyes off the road for just 2 seconds doubles your chance of being involved in a crash.
Teen Drivers and Distraction
Distracted driving is one of the most dangerous temptations for newly licensed teen drivers.
Technology
While parents with children still living at home were found to be the group of drivers most distracted by technology in AAA Washington’s 2018 research, the 16- and 17-year old drivers in the survey admitted to engaging in the same unsafe behaviors at least once in the past 30 days.
- 96% set navigation program while driving
- 86% read a text
- 82% answered a call
- 78% sent a text
Another 78 percent of teen drivers reported answering a call using a hands-free system. Washington law bans any use of a cell phone or wireless communication device, INCLUDING hands-free options, while driving with a driving permit or intermediate license.
Passenger Distraction
Despite those alarming numbers, the greatest risk to teen drivers is not technology but the distractions caused when driving with friends. New research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that when a teen driver has only teen passengers in a vehicle, the fatality rate for all people involved in a crash increased 51 percent.
Replace those teen passengers with people who are 35 years or older and the overall fatality rates in crashes decreased eight percent.
The increased risks underline just how important it is that parents get involved in their teen driver’s training, set rules and enforce them, and spend lots of hours with them behind the wheel, even more than is required by law.
AAA offers the following tips to parents of teen drivers, starting with supervised training – parents in the passenger seat acting as coach.
- Require that teens log at least 100 hours of supervised practice before driving solo
- Begin by practicing driving in low-risk situations, gradually moving to more complex situations: highways, nighttime, driving in the rain, and on and around challenging roadways.
- Allow no more than one non-family passenger under the age of 20 during the first six months of driving
- Use slightly different routes each practice session
- Practice adjusting speed based on visibility, traffic and different weather conditions
Resources
Learn more coaching tips and teen driving resources
*Average daily claims from annual 2015 data collected by NHTSA. Copyright © 2018 Auto Club Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.
**According to AAA research, the use of hands-free and voice-activated systems is just as distracting as a hand-held cell phone.