April is nationally recognized as Distracted Driving Awareness month, and in an effort to decrease the amount of crashes related to distracted driving in Texas, TxDOT has launched their latest campaign, “Talk, Text, Crash.”
in 2016 there were about 109,000 distracted driving related crashes in Texas, of those crashes 452 people died and 3,000 were severely injured.
Dianah Ascencio, public information officer of TxDOT for Lubbock County says distracted driving related crashes are the most preventable and is why TxDOT launched the campaign.
“We are just reminding drivers that when they get behind the wheel they need to focus on the task of driving. They need to commit 100% of their attention to driving and what’s on the road. That means setting your cell phone aside or any other mobile device as well as not eating, or fidgeting with the radio or a navigation system.”
Texas is one of four states without a statewide ban on texting and driving. but with House Bill 62 on its way to the senate committee, key lawmakers are optimistic it could finally make its way through the legislature.
