1/3 of fatal accidents are caused by a distraction, according to the DGT

In recent times we are concerned about such an important piece of information as not very pleasant, and that is that the number of fatalities due to traffic accidents is increasing . Day to day cars improve their safety, both active and passive, and we are all much more aware of the importance of driving using a seatbelt and not drinking alcohol or narcotic substances. But despite this, the data is bad .

The Directorate General of Traffic comments in a recent press release that distractions behind the wheel are behind of 33% of fatal accidents that occurred during the past year 2017. Speed ​​and alcohol are behind 29 and 26% respectively. In this same announcement they announce a new surveillance campaign focused on distractions from September 17 to 23.

Anything can be subject to distraction, such as a wasp inside the passenger compartment or a strange sound from the engine. our car. It is true that sometimes it is difficult to maintain 100% concentration, we are human, but we have to avoid as little distraction as we can.

It is common to see people on the road using their mobile phone , either talking to them in their ears, writing messages or sending voice notes. The distraction is very high even talking by handsfree, because we focus on the conversation and we ignore what is really important.

The DGT says that in a minute and a half using the hands-free we do not perceive 40% of the signals . In addition, we lose the ability to maintain a constant speed, do not keep enough distance and take much longer to react to an unexpected.

In this sense, and being totally against the use of mobile while driving and please increase the penalties for this reason, I would like to say that there are also many other factors that influence the distractions and are not taken into account.

The director of the DGT, Pere Navarro , commented days ago that new vehicles should have an active speed limiter . Something that has been on everyone's lips during the last days. Our vehicle would read the speed signals of the road and would not let us go beyond the maximum set at every moment.

Personally, I think it is something excessive and, going back to the distractions, in a moment I think many causes of confusion that could be easily avoided by manufacturers ... But there are reasons why you could give a good "pull" to the manufacturers.

Lately it's very fashionable to use of large screens on the dashboard, which we commonly call screens for infotainment. They are used to handle the radio, some car settings or navigation, among other things. Some include including climate control management . The fact is that the vast majority are tactile , so we are totally forced to look away for several seconds.

How hard would it be to force change or enter a destination? in the browser could only be done with the stopped vehicle by configuring the car software?The main objective of any ad is to notice it, to call your attention ... The same thing would have to rethink it, right? Because I think it does not fit too much with driving.

By this I do not mean that drivers can not put more than our share, quite the opposite, I just want to point out that many other things must be valued because it is very easy to always blame it ...