JOIN D PLEDGE: PUT DOWN THAT PHONE AND KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD

Talking, texting, and complicated car controls increase dangers

The Highway roads have become the domain of the distracted, with millions of drivers texting or talking on the phone instead of looking at the road ahead. The results of such behavior can be dangerous—and deadly. If you text while driving, you’re 23 times more likely to crash, according to one government study. And in 2011, more than a thousand people were killed and 3,000 were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver.

Phone usage isn't the only culprit. Dashboard technology, including Internet-connected infotainment systems, are also a serious distraction. What's more, some of the latest controllers and touch screens are signficantly more complicated than traditional buttons and knobs.

In a recent Carpartsnigeria survey, 17 percent of respondents said they owned a car with a multifunction controller, and 9 percent had a touch screen. About half of each of those groups said they found performing common tasks, such as adjusting the radio and cabin temperature, somewhat or very distracting.

To address the growing concerns about in-car distractions, the Federal Road Safety  issued long awaited guidelines for car companies last month. The guidelines include recommendations to limit the time drivers must take their eyes off the road to perform any task to 2 seconds at a time and 12 seconds total. NHTSA's guidelines also encourage automakers to disable manual texting, social-media access, Web-browsing features, and video-based calling unless a vehicle is stopped and in park.

Those efforts are good steps toward making our roads safer and helping save lives.

We firmly believe that a coordinated effort of driver education, technology solutions, and smart policymaking are critical to fighting this problem.

We’ve seen some encouraging signs. In that recent survey, for instance, 71 percent of respondents said they stopped or reduced texting, using a handheld phone, or operating a smart phone while driving in the previous year; more than half of that group said they did so because of state laws. That figure represents a 27-percentage-point increase from a similar survey that was conducted two years ago.

-Carpartsnigeria