Do You Drive Distracted? New Church Videos Promote Safe Driving

Contributed By Lauren Hanson, ChurchofJesusChrist.org Church News staff writer

  • 4 May 2017
 

Watch one of the Church's new videos showing how driving distracted is hazardous to your health.    
                                                                                                                         Download: small, medium, large

Article Highlights

  • New videos on safety.ChurchofJesusChrist.org illustrate the dangers of driving distracted.

“With the distracted driving videos, we hope to lessen the impact of auto accidents on the lives and families of Church members.” —Alan Rogers, senior safety manager for the Church

Multitasking while driving is hazardous to your health. That’s the message the Church’s safety experts want you to remember, especially as you get ready to enjoy Church activities this summer.

You probably know that texting while driving is dangerous. But according to research by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, even simple tasks like dialing a number or reaching for your phone triple your risk of crashing.

On the heels of Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April, the Church published a series of short, clever videos on its website safety.ChurchofJesusChrist.org featuring common scenarios that contribute to distracted driving: eating, talking on the phone, jamming to music, and putting on makeup.

“Why is the Church producing safety videos? Because we do a lot of activities in the Church, especially during the summer, and one of our goals is to promote safety, said Alan Rogers, senior safety manager for the Church. “With the distracted driving videos, we hope to lessen the impact of auto accidents on the lives and families of Church members.”

The distracted driving videos, like all the videos on safety.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, take a more positive approach for presenting important safety information.

“We recognize these are serious topics,” said Steven Brimley, a product manager in the Church’s Risk Management Division. “But we’ve found that people tend to remember and share important points if we present them in a more positive manner.”

Why the concern about distracted driving?

In the U.S., the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports distracted driving killed over 3,300 people and injured 387,000 others in 2015 alone.

The National Safety Council (NSC) emphasizes that even technologies like voice-to-text and hands-free devices (ear pieces and speakerphones) are about convenience, not safety, because they continue to distract our brains long after we’ve used them.

Take the pledge

“Laws only go so far to prevent distracted driving,” said Brother Rogers. In fact, the best protection comes from self-regulating, he said. “It’s got to be something you decide to do as an individual.”

Because of that, Brother Rogers encourages Church members to visit the NSC website and take the National Safety Council’s pledge to be an attentive driver, which says:

“I pledge to Just Drive for my own safety and for others with whom I share the roads. I choose to not drive distracted in any way—I will not:

  • Have a phone conversation—handheld, hands-free, or via Bluetooth.
  • Text or send Snapchats.
  • Use voice-to-text features in my vehicle’s dashboard system.
  • Update Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, Vine, or other social media.
  • Check or send emails.
  • Take selfies or film videos.
  • Input destinations into GPS (while the vehicle is in motion).
  • Call or message someone else when I know they are driving.
  Listen