Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016

Whether it’s a cell phone in your palm, food at your lips or an in-vehicle navigation system blaring instructions, it is not uncommon for drivers today to split their attention and fail to fully focus on the driving at hand. Centers for Disease Control statistics state that each day more than eight people are killed and 1,161 are injured in vehicle crashes that involve a distracted driver.

Beth Broering, trauma program manager at VCU Health, sees the fallout from those accidents firsthand.

“In the last several weeks we have seen an increase in teenagers in motor vehicle crashes,” she said. “We believe this is largely related to high school and college students being out of school for the holidays. Still, everyone is susceptible to distracted driving, from the elderly to the young. We all are now so accustomed to having smartphones and other distractions at our fingertips.”

By definition, distracted driving is driving while doing another activity that takes your attention away from the road ahead. Distractions are characterized as either visual, manual or cognitive. Texting while driving is particularly dangerous, experts say, because it combines all three distraction types. At 55 mph, the average text takes your eyes off the road long enough to cover a football field.

Severe traumatic brain injuries and chest injuries such as rib fractures, lung injuries and major abdominal injuries are just some of the conditions suffered by people involved in motor vehicle and motorcycle crashes caused by distracted driving, Broering said.