Distracted driving accounts for 22% roadway deaths, NRSF says

JACKSON, Tenn. — Driving can be stressful, but driving distracted can be dangerous.

According to David Reich, the Director of Public Relations for the National Road Safety Foundation, last year in Tennessee, 1,322 people died on roads and highways.

Reich said that around 22% of those fatalities were due to distracted driving.

“About 30 percent of all fatal crashes nationwide have distraction as a factor,” Reich said.

So what is distracted driving? Reich said most people think of distracted driving as using your cell phone while on the road, but it could be more than that.

Distracted driving could be things like tuning your radio or using your GPS.

“And a very big distraction that most of us just don’t think about can be other people in the car. Especially for young people, that’s a risk because if kids in the passenger seat or in the back seat are making a lot of noise and fooling around, for a young driver who is less experienced, that can be a real distraction and a real risk,” Reich said.

While Reich said every age group can be guilty of distracted driving, younger people are at a higher risk due to their inexperience of driving. He says that parents need to have conversations with their children about safe driving after they get their license.

“One thing that they can do begins long before their kids go to get their drivers license, and that is parents and all adults should be setting a good example. They should be good role models for safe driving,” Reich said.

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