Delaware’s Office Of Highway Safety is increasing efforts to reduce distracted driving during National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
OHS spokesman Jason Coleman says distracted driving continues to be one of the main contributing factors to fatal crashes on Delaware roadways.
“Distracted driving is often underreported but data does show in Delaware that between 2018 and 2022 there were 9,860 crashes involving distracted driving on our roadways which resulted in 90 serious injuries and 25 fatalities,” he said.
Coleman adds the issue is growing. Nationally,distracted driving played a role in 8% of all crash fatalities in 2020. A total of 3,142 deaths that year was up by 23 from the year before.
As part of an effort to reduce this, OHS is working to keep drivers off their phones through an awareness campaign, working to provide education materials and spread the message to avoid driving distracted.
Coleman says while phone use is one of the biggest issues they see, it’s not the only cause of distracted driving.
“There’s a lot of things that lead to distraction. Rather it be grooming, applying makeup, or eating and drinking. It’s anything that takes your eyes off the road,” he explained. “You can travel 122 yards in 5 seconds going 50 miles per hour. So if you take your eyes off the wheel for 5 seconds you could travel the length of a football field and not even know it.”
During April, OHS is also partnering with state and local law agencies to conduct high visibility enforcement.
Delawareans can expect to see increased law enforcement efforts funded through federal dollars, in addition to normal enforcement efforts.
Officers will be looking for anyone driving distracted, and will stop and ticket guilty parties.
