As March Break in Ontario unfolds, many of us will be on the road travelling from one place to another.
Reader’s Digest author Stuart Foxman in this month’s magazine says many of us, whether or not we admit, will be distracted while driving.
Foxman says drinking and driving is a given no-no in Canada and yet many of us who are distracted in other ways, end up operating our vehicles as if we had been drinking.
As one would expect, Foxman suggests cell phone conversations are a distraction.
He says it’s not the phone as much as the conversation that creates the problem.
He points to a similar conversation with someone in the car.
Foxman says that’s much safer because the other person in the car is also aware of the dangers of road and knows when to stop talking.
A caller on the other end of a phone does not.
A recent study shows 80 per cent of crashes in one year were linked to distractions as little as three seconds long.
Foxman says drowsy driving is another problem.
A Canadian study has shown 60 per cent of those asked have driven while drowsy.
However a startling 20 per cent have said they have fallen asleep behind the wheel.
Foxman says during your driving on March Break, don’t overevauluate your own competence behind the wheel.
He says driving is the most dangerous thing we do.
29 hundred Canadians die every year and additional 200 thousand are injured from motor vehicle crashes, many which could have been prevented if we eliminate the distractions.