Wondering How To Reduce Your Risk of a Virginia Distracted Driving Accident?

There’s a lot of summer travel advice out there already, but one of the most important safety tips has to do with cell phones.

Families in Virginia and across the nation will be packing up and hitting the roads on their way to vacation destinations.  While cell phones are great for emergencies and provide a lot of useful applications and tools, drivers should think twice before using these devices. 

According to the official U.S. government website for distracted driving, Distraction.gov, driving while using a cell phone lowers brain activity that is associated with driving by 37 percent.  If that statistic isn’t frightening enough to make you put away your cell phone when you are behind the wheel, here is another alarming fact – drivers who use hand-held cell phones are four times as likely to get into collisions that cause injury.

There has been major concern among safety experts regarding the dangers of cell phones and the potential to cause crashes.  In Virginia, texting and driving is not allowed, but unfortunately, drivers still do it.  However, texting and driving isn’t the only problem.  Using a cell phone while driving, no matter if it is a hand-held or hands free device, delays a driver’s reactions at the same level as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent, according to the University of Utah.

To reduce your risk of a Virginia distracted driving accident this summer, put away the cell phone while you are driving.  Also, be on the lookout for other drivers who may not be paying attention to the road.