April is just over a week away and it marks the start of the National Distracted Driving Awareness month.  there's usually a month for everything but this one seems more important than most. distracted driving is a huge issue these days. From texting to phone calls, GPS and even screaming children, there are a lot of different things that keep us from paying as much attention as we need to while driving.

According to Safety.com, There are 13 tips to help you with while you're on the road. The first one is to always buckle up, that little belt alone helped save over 14,000 lives in 2016. Another tip is to just put the cell phone down completely. It can be very tempting to pick up but when you read a text, your eyes leave the road for around 5 seconds. At higher speeds that's close to driving through a whole football field with your eyes shut.

This one is a given, always pass other cars in the left lane. This one really gets on my nerves, when you're getting on an on-ramp, get up to speed so other drivers don't have top slam on their brakes. Here's another one, if you are in an accident, please get out of your car carefully to avoid anymore accidents or injuries. While on the highway don't tailgate or drive to closely to the other vehicles. If they hit their brakes in a hurry and you're right on them, you won't have enough time to stop. Keep an eye on your speed, it's the number one driver related issue when it comes to fatal crashes.

Road rage is another huge issue. try your best to overlook other drivers mistakes. 66 percent of traffic fatalities happen because of aggressive driving. Big trucks own the road. be careful when driving close to them. If you cannot see the driver ahead of you, then they can't see you either.

Another tip is to try to drive defensively. You can be certain that other drivers will mess up and make mistakes. Just try to be as ready for them as you can. If you're on a long road trip you are going to get tired, make sure to take plenty of breaks. Turning the music up also helps if you're sleepy, you can even roll down the windows to help wake you back up.

Here's another big one, please drive accordingly in rough weather conditions. You need to be alert as you can in bad weather so taking your time always helps. Finally, don't drive under the influence, that's the worst kind of distracted driving and you put everyone else on the road at risk. A few of these tips are really common sense, but if you follow them the chances of you getting into another accident will surely diminish.

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