National Distracted Driving Awareness Month begins Today!

Congress designated April as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.  The Arcadia Police Department joins in bringing your attention to the dangers associated with distracted driving.  The video above comes from the National Safety Council, an excellent resource for education and awareness information related to distracted driving.

Here are some interesting facts on the topic, courtesy of the California Office of Traffic Safety:

·                    “Distraction” is a specific type of inattention that occurs when drivers divert their attention from the driving task to focus on some other activity instead.  (Source: Overview of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Driver Distraction Program).

·                    The No.1 source of driver inattention is use of a wireless device. (Source: Virginia Tech/NHTSA)

·                    Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)

·                    Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. (Source: Carnegie Mellon)

·                    Using a cell phone while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah) 

Help improve safety for all on the road - don't drive while distracted!