Distracted Driving Awareness Month: Phone Use Leads Issues

April is distracted driving awareness month.

Overton County Sheriff John Garrett said when it comes to distracted driving, cell phones are the biggest issue that his department sees. Garrett said just one glance at your screen can lead to an accident.

“In just the blank of an eye,” Garrett said. “Whenever you are operating a motor vehicle that weighs several thousand pounds, and you’re operating it at 40 or 70 miles per hour and you have a crash and hit someone, those are life changing events. There is no redo.”

Garrett said eating, applying makeup and picking things up from your floorboard are all dangerous while driving. Garrett said the safest thing to do is to leave your devices alone and pull over when your attention is disrupted.

“They need to be paying attention to what they are doing and their surroundings,” Garrett said. “Not only watching their driving, but also the people around them. You can never tell when something is going to happen.”

Garrett said he saw upticks in distracted drivers in the past, but recent distracted driving laws and Bluetooth capabilities have helped.

“There was some legislation passed a couple years ago concerning distracted driving laws,” Garrett said. “Tennessee is a hands free state, so a lot of car manufactures now have Bluetooth. That really cuts down on the distraction, but it still happens.”