April has been designated as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and that’s a good reminder of the importance of putting down your cellphone or anything else while you drive and putting your focus exactly where it should be: on the road and your surroundings.

If common sense and the fear of a deadly wreck aren’t enough to convince you of the need to not drive distractedly, there may just be a ticket in your future if law enforcement sees you endangering yourself and others by not paying proper attention when you’re driving.

TAccording the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data, the number of people killed in distracted driving related crashes in the state decreased in 2020 by 25% compared to 2017, the first full year before the hands-free law.

According to NHTSA, almost 32,500 people were killed in distraction-related crashes in the United States from 2011 to 2020. In 2019, 18% of the persons killed in distraction-related crashes in the U.S. were pedestrians, bicyclists or others using a roadway in some manner where they were not riding in an automobile.

Texting while driving remains a major factor in distracted-related crashes involving younger drivers. Nine percent of drivers 15-19 years old involved in fatal crashes in the United States in 2019 were reported as distracted.

According to NHTSA, the number of fatal crashes caused by distracted drivers that were 15 to 20 years old in Georgia has decreased by 70% since the hands-free law was enacted.

The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and NHTSA offer the following tips to help prevented distracted-related crashes:

• If you need to send or are expecting an important text or email, find a safe place to park your car to read or send the message.

• Designate passengers to have access your phone to serve as a “designated texter”

• Do not call, text, or send any type of message to someone you know is driving if it is not urgent

• Put your phone away before starting your trip. You can check it when your reach your destination or take a rest stop.

• Put down your phone if your passenger asks. Do not endanger the lives others.

Life is too precious.

Protect it, that of yourself and others, by being fully alert and focused when behind the wheel.

You can’t afford not to be.

— Dalton (Gerogia) Daily Citizen