If you have been driving for over 30 years you have seen a major evolution of driving distractions of things that keep your mind off your driving. Distractions according to the department of highway safety are one of the leading reasons why major fatalities occur. Below are some of the most common distractions that have occurred over the years.

First on the scene back in the mid 80′s, was the invention of the car phone. These phones back then seemed to be more of a status symbol than anything else and not necessarily used on a frequent basis due to the high cost of cell phone minutes. Wow did that ever change! Today it is hard to see someone driving without talking on a cell phone.

Speaking of which, have you ever been involved in a serious conversation while driving to work and when you start paying attention to where you are you say gosh I don’t recall the last 10 miles of driving. It is almost as if our brains are on autopilot. Pretty scary huh?

After cell phones came the invention of texting. I was reluctant to text in the beginning but if you have kids this is one of the main forms of communication with them. The problem is people are texting 24/7 so the chances of you receiving a text while driving is pretty common. Once you get the hang of texting you can usually respond fairly quickly so you tend to do this while you are driving as opposed to pulling over or waiting until you stop. Read the rest of this entry »