April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, see statistics, are you one?

“Nine people in the United States are killed every day in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver

Colorado Statewide — Responding to a text message, turning to talk to a passenger, or reaching for a French fry may seem harmless, but this dangerous driving behavior accounted for 65 fatal crashes across Colorado in 2021. April marks Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and CDOT is urging Coloradans to drop distractions behind the wheel and focus on the road instead.

REASONS FOR FATAL ACCIDENTS:
Among the 65 fatal distracted driving crashes in Colorado in 2021, the leading cause of distractions in those incidents were:
Other passengers (18%)
Talking, listening, dialing or other activities on a cell phone (18%)
Inattention (15%)
An outside person, object or event (12%)
Eating food or drinking beverages (8%)

DISTRACTIONS THAT DRIVERS ARE MOST OFTEN ENGAGED IN
A 2022 driver behavior survey conducted by CDOT found that the distraction that drivers engaged in most often was eating and drinking. The full list of distractions that drivers engaged in most often are:
==Ate food/drank beverage (36%)
==Selecting entertainment on a cell phone, CD player, radio or other device (21%)
==Talking on a hands-free phone (15%)
==Reading a text or social media message on a phone (7%)
In CDOT’s survey, an alarming three out of four Colorado drivers reported using their cell phones (hands-free or handheld) while driving a moving vehicle. Male respondents were more likely to say they used their phone while driving on the highway (71%) than female respondents (60%).

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO TURN ON: “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature
Only 29% of behavior survey respondents used the “Do Not Disturb” feature on their phones rarely or more often, while 34% never used the feature, and 37% were unaware of the feature. CDOT recommends turning on Do Not Disturb while driving on your phone to avoid the temptation.
On Apple devices:
Go to Settings
Within Settings, go to Focus
Click on Driving
On the Driving page, scroll down to “Turn on Automatically” to have Do Not Disturb While Driving automatically activate or activate when connected to car Bluetooth

WORDING OF THE LAW:
===Adult drivers in Colorado are prohibited from manual data entry and transmission on a cell phone (i.e., to send a text message or browse the internet) while behind the wheel.
===Any driver under 18 years of age is prohibited from using a cell phone while driving. The prohibition includes phone calls, text messaging, or similar forms of manual data entry and transmission.