Illinois Distracted Driving Awareness Week

Illinois Drivers Pay Attention; It’s Distracted Driving Awareness Week

Illinois– April 24, 2018 (WGIL) According to an article on WGIL.com, this week is Distracted Driving Awareness Week in Illinois. Distracted drivers cause nearly a million crashes across America every year. When a driver gets distracted by anything for any amount of time, they increase the risk that they will get into an accident.

Drivers do some surprising things behind the wheel that distract them from their primary purpose – getting safely to their destination. Even if you’ve never read a book, applied makeup, or read a newspaper while driving, you may have seen other people doing it. Some people even report having seen drivers shaving or knitting while driving. Parents may not even realize that they get distracted every time they turn around to look at and speak to their children who are in the back seat. Cell phones, DVD players, tablets, and other electronics are among the most common types of distractions. Many people don’t know just how much distractions increase accident risk. For example, cell phone use while driving increases accident risk by four hundred percent!

Drivers who break distracted driving laws in Illinois can expect to pay fines and get penalized, especially if they cause an accident while driving distracted. As part of Distracted Driving Awareness Week, the Knox County Deputies conducted a traffic detail. The deputies made approximately one hundred and thirty citations for various types of distracted driving during their four-hour effort. Drivers are responsible for keeping their focus on the road. If you must make a phone call, send a text, or do anything else that could distract you if you did it while you were driving, find a safe place to park and take care of it before going back to your drive.