JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
When they are behind the wheel, drivers face many distractions that can cause them to take their attention and eyes off the road, which can have deadly consequences for them and others.
Distracted driving has become a major public safety issue because it is now one of the five leading causes of deadly accidents on the road. In 2015, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, 3,477 people were killed and 391,000 injured in accidents caused by distracted drivers.
The NHTSA defines distracted driving as any activity that could divert a driver’s attention away from the task of operating a vehicle.
The Joint Base San Antonio Summer Safety Campaign is raising awareness and providing information on the prevention of distracted driving to installation members. The Summer Safety Campaign, which kicked off on Memorial Day, May 29, focuses on increased safety awareness and practices during the heightened summer season to help save the lives of active duty and JBSA members. The campaign runs until Labor Day, Sept. 4.
John McLaughlin, 502nd Air Base Wing traffic safety manager at JBSA-Lackland, said there are three types of distractions that can cause drivers to take their attention and eyes away from the road: physical, cognitive and visual.
Physical distractions are activities in which the driver to takes a hand off the steering wheel, including texting and talking on a cell phone, eating, reaching for a beverage in the cup holder, reading, adjusting the radio and temperature controls, utilizing a GPS/navigation system and attending to children or passengers; visual are those distractions that force drivers to take their eyes off the road, such as dropping a beverage or item on the floor of the vehicle or seeing a person walking by; and cognitive is when the driver is in deep thought and his or her mind wanders off that they no longer are paying attention to the road.
Cognitive distractions include getting into a conversation with a person in the vehicle or on the phone, or thinking about something else.
“Driving distracted is very comparable to driving drunk because on average 28 people a day are killed by drunk drivers and 20 people a day on average are killed by distracted drivers,” McLaughlin said.
Findings of studies show that drivers who text take their eyes off the road an average of 4.6 seconds. At a speed of 55 mph, this is equivalent to driving the distance of a football field with a blindfold on, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Travis Kilpack, 502nd ABW occupations safety manager at JBSA-Lackland, said drivers need to focus on the road and not engage in activities or devices that could lead to accidents caused by distracted driving.
“Put your phone down,” Kilpack said. “It can wait. Pull over to text or talk.”
McLaughlin, who conducts safety briefings twice a week at JBSA-Lackland for basic trainees and technical training students, said drivers need to take the same approach for distracted driving like they do for drunk driving, doing everything they can to prevent it from occurring.
Drivers can help minimize distractions in a vehicle by doing things such as not eating while driving and setting up a music playlist on an electronic device or presetting stations on the radio before driving, said McLaughlin.
“We need to grow the culture that distracted driving is wrong,” he said. “It really comes to internal reflection from yourself and what you can do to not drive distracted. You either be part of the solution or part of the problem. Everybody joins the military to be a better version of themselves and I challenge them all to be better drivers.”