Crime & Safety
Dearborn Police, Schools Lead Movement to Stop Distracted Driving
The Dearborn Police will increase patrols on local roads during the summer months.
It takes less than 5 seconds for a distracted driver to cause a potentially fatal accident.
That's why the Dearborn Police Department will be increasing the number of officers on the road during the summer months as part of the department's annual Smart Driver Initiative.
"Twenty percent of the accidents in our country are attributed to distracted driving, and 17 million people across our country admitted to drunk driving in 2010. Those two facts alone make our roads and highways a death trap particularly for young people," police chief Ronald Haddad said during the department's kick-off event on Friday.
Distracted driving continues to be a problem everywhere, and Dearborn is no exception. Despite traffic accidents decreasing 20 percent last year across the city, Haddad said educating teens and young drivers continues to be a challenge.
"We're on course to decrease our accidents and we will continue to work hard with all of our community partners," he said.
Distracted driving is defined as any activity that diverts a person’s attention away from the task of driving and includes texting, using a cell phone, eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming, reading, using a navigation system, and adjusting a radio, CD player or MP3 player.
According to the National Highway Safety and Transportation Administration, in 2011, 3,331 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver. Also in that same year, 387,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver. The NHSA reports that the youngest and most inexperienced drivers are most at risk, with 16 percent of all distracted driving crashes involving drivers under 20.
Keeping the roads safe
As part of the Smart Driving Initiative's kick-off event, representatives from the Ford Motor Company Fund, AAA Michigan, and Dearborn Public Schools shared their stories and tips for drivers.Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr., who is a strong advocate for traffic safety, said as a parent of three children, he knows firsthand about the difficulties of teaching teenagers responsible driving skills.
"The unfortunate fact is, as younger people become more and more attached to their smartphone, they are using it so much that they feel they need to have it handy and use it while they are driving. That's a very scary thing because no matter how competent they feel, the data is clear — if you are distracted while you are driving, you are in peril and so are other people."
Brian Whiston, superintendent of Dearborn Public Schools, said with graduation parties approaching, the summer months are often a scary time for teachers.
"This is a time when we worry about our 19,000 students, and how safe they will be on the road," he said. "We encourage all of our students and community members to be smart about how they are driving, be very cautious, and to not use devices that could cause a distraction. It is not worth losing just one life."
Jad Elharke, a student at Fordson High School, told a story of how his friend and a fellow student was hit by a distracted driver while attempting to cross Schaefer Road earlier this year.
Elharke characterized the use of cell phones will driving as an obsessive compulsive disorder, and issued a call to action to his fellow students.
"Wherever students are, they are always checking their phones. Five seconds is the average time your eyes are off the road when texting. While traveling 45 miles per hour on Ford Road, that's the length of a football field," he said.
To help raise awareness about the dangers of distracted driving, students in the Edsel Ford Link Crew applied for and received a $2,000 grant from the Ford Motor Company's Driving Skills for Life program this year. The students created signs in the school's parking lot, T-shirts that read "Keep calm, drive safe," hosted a student video contest, and brought in numerous speakers to talk about driving safety.
"I think our campaign really hit home with everyone," student Benjamin Timpf said. "Actually seeing accident scenes and hearing the statistics had a big impact."
For more information about the Smart Driver Initiative, call the Dearborn Police Department at 313-943-2240.
To report suspicious or erratic driving, call 911 or the police department's anonymous tip line at 313-943-3012.
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