How To Avoid Being Distracted On The Road

The rules of the road are simple. Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road ahead of you, right? That may seem easier said than done when you’re carpooling pre-teens and teenagers around.

Avoid Accidents By Being Mindful of Your Actions

There are a number of things that carpool drivers will find distracting. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that you’re able to eliminate distractions and change the way you respond to them if they present themselves to you. It’s how you’re able to avoid accidents and drive your passengers safely to their destination.

Don’t Be a Distracted Driver

According to Distraction.gov, “In 2014, 3,179 people were killed, and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers.” Every single instance was preventable. Many of these accidents involved texting but some happened while motorists were grooming themselves, reading maps, eating and drinking, or talking to passengers.

Here are some friendly reminders on how to avoid being distracted while driving:

1. Do not use your phone unless it is an emergency. Even then, you should try to pull off into a parking lot or the side of the road to make a phone call. Even hands-free devices are distracting enough to cause you “to miss important visual and audio cues needed to avoid a crash,” according to insurance provider Geico.
2. Ask your passengers to talk quietly amongst themselves. When kids shout or scream, they startle you. This can cause you to jump or respond in a way that prohibits you from driving safely. You may wince and close your eyes or turn to verbally quiet your passengers. Both instances have you driving while distracted which is very dangerous.
3. Don’t multi-task inside the vehicle. If you’re searching for music to listen to, receiving a text on your phone or trying to eat something, you’re a distracted driver. Once you’ve sat inside your vehicle, you need to be very focused on the task at hand which is to drive your carpool to school, soccer field, or field trip destination safely.

The way that you prevent distracted driving from happening is by educating others about the dangers of distractions. You let other carpool drivers know the risks they’re taking when they engage in behavior that takes their eyes off the road and their hands off their wheels. You model good driving behavior. After all, your pre-teen/ teen will be driving themselves soon enough, so setting a good example is key.

You Can Eliminate Accidents By Driving Carefully

Do whatever it takes to reduce distractions while driving. Every time you drive distracted, the likelihood of you being involved in an accident increases. The objective is to travel conscientiously and safely wherever your carpool needs to go.  There are various different tools and apps to help with this.  ZenDrive for example is a great app that uses sensors on a smartphone to measure and improve driving behavior.  Monitoring the way that you drive and eliminating distractions around you, will help tremendously.

Ask your passengers to keep the noise level down and refrain from playing loud music or video games on their phones and tablets. By setting standards in your vehicle and enforcing the rules, you and your passengers will come to a mutual understanding that safety comes first. You won’t have to ask them to follow the rules because they’ll come to your vehicle with the same expectations you have for their conduct.  To learn more about carpool safety and other parent tips and tricks, visit the GoKid blog page.