{"id":164881,"date":"2023-04-07T03:48:53","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T08:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=164881"},"modified":"2023-04-07T03:48:54","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T08:48:54","slug":"oshp-keep-your-eyes-on-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/04\/07\/oshp-keep-your-eyes-on-the-road\/","title":{"rendered":"OSHP: keep your eyes on the road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COLUMBUS &#8212; This year, April\u2019s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month coincides with the start of stricter distracted driving laws in Ohio, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol is reminding motorists to keep their eyes and focus on the roadway while driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDistracted driving is dangerous, irresponsible and just as deadly as driving drunk and now, distracted driving is a primary traffic offense in Ohio,\u201d said Governor Mike DeWine. \u201cThis new law will undoubtedly save lives and spare many families the incredible pain of losing loved ones in senseless and preventable crashes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/OSHP-Logo-e1532741570657.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-105227\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2018, 209 people lost their lives as a result of distracted driving. During this same time frame, distracted driving led to 62,324 crashes in Ohio with 21,652 resulting in injuries. Because drivers are reluctant to admit to distracted driving, the actual number of distracted driving crashes, injuries and deaths is believed to be significantly higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cKeep your focus on the road,\u201d said Colonel Charles A. Jones, Patrol superintendent. \u201cEvery time you take your eyes off the road, you\u2019re putting the lives of everyone on the road at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Distracted driving is any non-driving activity with the potential to distract a person from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing. Distractions can be visual, taking eyes off of the road; manual, taking hands off the wheel; or cognitive, taking the mind off driving. Texting while driving is an example that results in all three types of distraction. Sending or receiving a text message takes a driver\u2019s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field when traveling at 55 miles per hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Ohio\u2019s new distracted driving laws now in effect, law enforcement officers will now have probable cause to pull over motorists if they witness them illegally using an electronic communications device to manually input text, dial a phone number, or hold or physically support that device with any part of the person\u2019s body while driving. Some exceptions exist, and emergency calls will be permitted in all circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In early October, officers will have the authority to issue citations. Until then if drivers are stopped, officers will warn drivers and educate them on the dangers of distracted driving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VW independent staff\/submitted information COLUMBUS &#8212; This year, April\u2019s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month coincides with the start of stricter distracted driving laws in Ohio, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol is reminding motorists to keep their eyes and focus on the roadway while driving. \u201cDistracted driving is dangerous, irresponsible and just as deadly as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 22:44:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164882,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164881\/revisions\/164882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}