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While we’re not done with potential winter weather — it’s been known to strike in these parts well into April — we are officially into spring, with days getting longer following Monday’s vernal equinox. Certainly the first few, almost balmy days of this week felt like winter was over.
And with warm weather comes more outdoor activity. More people will be riding bikes, jogging or just ambling about. Children in particular will increase their outside recreation. All of which merits a friendly reminder — more important these days than in the past: When you are driving a motor vehicle you are not, contrary to how some people act, the only one on the road. Pedestrians and cyclists likewise are not there purely to get out of your way.
Pointing out the increase in outdoor activity matters more now primarily because of the explosion of smart phone use and, by extension, distracted driving. There is a good reason old-timers who lived without social media, texts and call-anytime capabilities may feel mystified when someone drives by with one hand on the wheel and the other on the phone. While a whole generation is now growing up never having lived in world without cell phones, having an endless array of distractions vying for your attention in the palm of your hand is not the natural order of things.
Of course, distracted driving is not exclusive to younger people. Plenty of said old-timers have become fully enthralled by smart screens.
Here’s the depressing statistic from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: From 2012 to 2021, the percentage of drivers using hand-held electronic devices (phones, mostly, we’re sure) has increased 127%. The numbers behind that statistic, though, aren’t quite as dramatic. The percent of drivers using devices was 1.5% in 2012, and rose to 3.4% in 2021.
But things are a bit more complicated than that. Use of hand-held phones has actually dipped, from around 6% in 2008 to under 3% in 2021. Good, right? It would be, except the percentage of people manipulating their “hand-held devices” has soared in the same time, from less than 1% to nearly 4%. So even if people are using their cell phones less, those using them apparently are more involved — and likely more distracted — than in the past.
There are also other causes for distracted driving: Talking to passengers, eating, rubber-necking some eye-catching sight off to the side, or dealing with unruly children, to name a few. And even if you are keeping both eyes on the road (and both hands on the wheel), you can get reckless quickly for a lot of other reasons: Being in a hurry, being unsure of where you are going, failing to adjust to a change in weather, sudden glare from the sun, or the onset of dusk and night. Or maybe you just don’t think about the rules much, such as coming to a full stop before turning right on red or proceeding past a stop sign, swerving out of your lane without cause, not using turn signals, speeding.
All of these variations put the driver in danger, even if he or she doesn’t realize it. But with warm weather drawing more people outside, distracted and reckless driving put pedestrians and cyclists in greater danger. Drive too fast on residential roads and you won’t be able to respond to a child popping out from between parked cars. Roll through a red light without stopping to look in all directions and you could slam into that elderly pedestrian unable to react quickly. Insist on passing a cyclist as close as possible (state law requires a distance of four feet) and you could clip him or her with a mirror, or just startle them into a crash.
So please, stick to speed limits, stay in your lane, stop for stop signs and red lights, and put the phone away while behind the wheel. Odds are, you’ll actually enjoy the drive more.
— Times Leader