According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a crash happens every 44 seconds in the state.
With April being Distracted Driving Awareness month, Southwest Florida is becoming more aware of its crash and accident fatality problem. The area has already had 94 deaths between Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota, Glades, and Hendry counties since Jan. 1.
Jay Anderson, the executive director for Stay Alive Just Drive, a local nonprofit dedicated to crash prevention, believes it’s owed to traffic violations going unpunished. Those who don’t receive a citation or warning are more likely to keep breaking the law.
“If you run a red light, and you don't get caught, then your chances are you may do it again,” Anderson said. “If you continue to speed and you don't get stopped, this is a domino effect, is what has occurred.”
Anderson added that Target Zero, an initiative designed to eliminate all traffic deaths and injuries, has made its way to Florida. It intends to change poor driving behavior before it can become a habit.
Most law enforcement agencies are paying attention to crash numbers, and acting accordingly. The Cape Coral Police Department is one of them. Mercedes Simonds, its public information officer, cites the agency’s recent focus on traffic violations.
“We have issued more traffic citations just in this first quarter than we ever have before,” Simonds said. “You can talk to people ‘till you're blue in the face trying to tell them what they've done wrong, but once you impact their wallet, hopefully that's where they listen.”
Alongside the reinforcement of bad driving habits, distracted driving is another large cause of accidents nationwide. If a driver’s eyes and mind aren’t on the road, they’re much more likely to drive recklessly and crash.
Distracted driving is anything that takes your hands off the wheel, your eyes off the road or mind off driving. It is extremely risky behavior that puts everyone on the road in danger. There are different kinds of driver distractions:
Texting requires all three types of distraction, making it one of the most dangerous of distracted driving behaviors.
Using your phone while driving can also get you cited. Section 316.305 of Florida Statutes allows law enforcement to stop motor vehicles and issue citations to motorists that are texting and driving. A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers or symbols into a wireless communications device to text, email and instant message.
However, texting is not the only cause of distracted driving. Other common distractions include: tending to kids or passengers in the back seat, eating, watching an event outside of the vehicle, interacting with passengers, unsecured pets, putting on makeup or grooming, adjusting radio or climate controls, checking your GPS app or daydreaming.
Moving forward, Anderson hopes for some legislative changes to broaden the definition of distracted driving so poor habits can be further discouraged.
“Distracted driving is any activity that takes your focus off the task of driving,” Anderson said. “It’s not only that phone, it’s everything, and unfortunately, the law only addresses the phone. The law should read, ‘any activity that takes your focus off the task of driving.’ It’s pretty simple!”
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