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May is Distracted Driving Awareness Month at 188th

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Michael Francis
  • 188th Fighter Wing Safety Office
FORT SMITH, Ark. --  In today's age of technology, it seems that finding a person without a cell phone is pretty uncommon. However, one thing that is extremely common now is driving while using a cell phone. Cell phone usage is the number one distraction behind the wheel. The National Safety Council estimates that 28 percent of all crashes are caused by drivers talking or texting on handheld or hands-free cell phones.

Driving while using a cell phone requires the brain to multitask, a process that it cannot do safely while driving. Drivers who focus their attention on the cell phone conversation or text message instead of the road experience impaired driving performance and have a tendency to "look at" but not "see" up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment. Drivers who were tested in a closed course environment missed many critical driving cues due to distracted driving.

May is Distracted Driving Awareness Month at the 188th. During this month, Airmen are challenged to refrain from texting or talking on their phones while driving.

This will be an easy challenge for some. For others, it will be difficult. We have become a society in which information is at our fingertips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, many of us have become accustomed to simply picking up our smart phones to look up a phone number, text a message to a friend, change a status on social media, order take out, surf the internet, and even pay our bills. While this technology is great, it becomes troublesome when we try to do these things and drive at the same time.

As a reminder, any person operating a motor vehicle on base must use the hands-free option on the phone if they choose to talk while driving. Texting while driving on base is not allowed. There are also several state laws that apply to texting and driving, especially persons under the age of 18 using cell phones while driving.

So, are you up to the challenge of no cell phone while driving this month? Remember that no phone call or text message is worth a life. Please drive safely!

May is Distracted Driving Awareness Month at 188th

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Michael Francis
  • 188th Fighter Wing Safety Office
FORT SMITH, Ark. --  In today's age of technology, it seems that finding a person without a cell phone is pretty uncommon. However, one thing that is extremely common now is driving while using a cell phone. Cell phone usage is the number one distraction behind the wheel. The National Safety Council estimates that 28 percent of all crashes are caused by drivers talking or texting on handheld or hands-free cell phones.

Driving while using a cell phone requires the brain to multitask, a process that it cannot do safely while driving. Drivers who focus their attention on the cell phone conversation or text message instead of the road experience impaired driving performance and have a tendency to "look at" but not "see" up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment. Drivers who were tested in a closed course environment missed many critical driving cues due to distracted driving.

May is Distracted Driving Awareness Month at the 188th. During this month, Airmen are challenged to refrain from texting or talking on their phones while driving.

This will be an easy challenge for some. For others, it will be difficult. We have become a society in which information is at our fingertips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, many of us have become accustomed to simply picking up our smart phones to look up a phone number, text a message to a friend, change a status on social media, order take out, surf the internet, and even pay our bills. While this technology is great, it becomes troublesome when we try to do these things and drive at the same time.

As a reminder, any person operating a motor vehicle on base must use the hands-free option on the phone if they choose to talk while driving. Texting while driving on base is not allowed. There are also several state laws that apply to texting and driving, especially persons under the age of 18 using cell phones while driving.

So, are you up to the challenge of no cell phone while driving this month? Remember that no phone call or text message is worth a life. Please drive safely!