Before cell phones it was the sound system in your car, noisy kids and you putting on your makeup or reaching for another handful of French fries. Today with only one had on the steering wheel and the other on your cell phone drivers are more distracted than ever before.

With the number of injuries adding up each year AAA South Dakota is launching a new multi-year initiative that aims to reduce deaths and injuries as a result of cell phone use by drivers. And it begins as part of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

“Don’t Drive Intoxicated – Don’t Drive Intexticated” is the theme of AAA’s multimedia traffic safety education campaign created to make distracted driving socially unacceptable.

The new program will help the public understand that the consequences of using a smartphone while driving are the same as drinking and driving. The campaign targets drivers who would never consider drinking a beer behind the wheel, and yet, regularly engage with mobile devices that dangerously take their eyes, hands and minds off the road.

“AAA has made traffic safety a priority since 1921, working to make roads, vehicles and drivers safer,” said Marilyn Buskohl, Public and Government Affairs Manager for AAA South Dakota. “Through this latest initiative, AAA South Dakota is committed to changing attitudes and behaviors surrounding the deadly problem of distracted driving, and we will continue this effort for years to come.”

Source: AAA South Dakota

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