Survey: One in five Canadians admits to distracted driving

Canadians know distracted driving is a big risk factor on the road. While 8 in 10 respondents (79%) to the latest Desjardins survey released today isay they regularly see other drivers using a smartphone behind the wheel, only 38 percent admit to having driven distracted at least once. A further 21% admitted to using their phone while driving within the past year.

Smartphone-related distracted driving is more pronounced with younger drivers. Eleven percent of drivers aged 16-24 admit to driving while using their smartphone on a regular basis, twice the national average (5%).

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AT&T's new ad campaign addresses the casualties of text driving

We see people texting while driving every day and some of us are guilty of sneaking a peek at our devices or even trying to send out responses while behind the wheel. AT&T's latest ad campaign titled 'Drop Your Weapon,' shows just how lethal text driving with statistics that prove the practice kills more people than war.

The ads show that there have 4,491 US casualties in the Iraq War between 2003 and 2014. This number is superceded by deaths due to text-driving exceed 33,000 within the same period. The big difference is that text-driving deaths could have been avoided if someone just waited until they were parked or safe to send a text.

New technologies like hands-free headsets and voice control on newer cars assist it remaining connected but they don't remove the root cause of accidents which is distracted driving. How many more people have to die unnecessarily before we realize that when driving a vehicle, all our attention should be focused on the road ahead as well as the other cars and people around us.

Source: Design Taxi

OneTap app can help stop distracted driving

By Sonya Davidson

If you've ever felt the urge to pick up your phone while you're driving to "just answer a quick call" or text someone fast this app may be an important tool to keep you from being distracted. OneTap is like having a personal assistant. It will respond to emails and messages for you sending out an automatic message to the sender to let them know that you're driving and cannot respond immediately. Smart!

Distracted driving - which includes texting, calling or emailing behind the wheel is a major cause of accidents while on the road. Recent studies have shown that distracted driving contributes to 80 per cent of all car crashes across the country. 

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