Drivers spend more than half their time focused on things other than driving. That statistic was presented to a House transportation panel. Lawmakers are trying to get a handle on how widespread distracted driving is in Florida.
Democratic Miami Gardens Representative Barbara Watson says the problem is much broader than texting and talking on a cell phone.
"Eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming, reading, using navigation systems, and watching videos and adjusting radios, CD players and mp3 players”, said Watson.The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles started trying to track distracted driving crashes in 2011. The numbers show that out of 2,400 fatal crashes in Florida that year, only 7 were caused by a distracted driver. But the department’s Matt Montgomery says almost half of crash reports don’t specify a cause.
“This is not the full picture", said Montgomery. "It is representative of one of the challenges with this topic at large, which is the difficult nature of determining when a driver is distracted in a specific investigation of a crash.”
The committee asked Montgomery to come back with suggestions for how the state can keep better track of distracted driving crashes.