Apr. 6—ASHLAND — April is Distracted Driving Awareness month and area law enforcement is reminding people to buckle up and put the phone down.

Changing the radio, switching routes on a GPS, scrolling for the next song and talking to others in the back seat can distract and take away from paying attention to the road, Ashland Police Chief Todd Kelly said.

“Anything that takes your attention away from an accurate safe operation of a vehicle is distracted driving,” he said.

In a time of advanced technology and smart vehicles, people are becoming more distracted while on the road, Kelly said, pointing out that all it takes is “one split second away” from the road to end up in a car accident.

“We have vehicles now with big technology in them. The car is a smartphone. The vehicle itself can be a contributor,” he said.

“You may not be at fault, but somebody may pull right in front of you or some action takes place right in front of you where you don’t have time to react. That one moment when you aren’t looking forward, paying attention takes away from your ability to react,” Kelly added.

Across the nation, 1.6 million vehicular crashes involve cellphone use and distracted driving results in 200 dead each year, according to Kentucky office of Highway safety. Operating a vehicle while using an electronic device reduces the amount of attention to driving by 37%.

“We are on a statewide campaign all the time. The message ‘buckle up, phone down’ is perfectly accurate for not only Ashland, but throughout the state of Kentucky and everywhere really,” he added.

Kentucky State Police Sergeant Matt Sudduth said being distracted while driving creates risk for other drivers commuting each day.

“Driving is a task that takes full attention. Any attention that distracts you from the road distracts you from driving. It creates not only a huge risk to yourself, but other drivers on the highway,” Sudduth said.

“I’ve worked several collisions as a state trooper where distractions were a contributing factor that led to that collision, whether they didn’t realize the traffic ahead of them had slowed down or stopped or looked away for a moment and didn’t realize that the light had changed,” he added.

Sudduth advised people who need to perform an action that will take their eyes off the road to find a safe spot to do so.

“Wait till you come to a stop or pull over for a second to set your GPS. Just find a safe place to do that and try not to do that while you are actually driving down the road,” he said.

“Just driving down the road you can see people that think it’s an every day, OK thing to do. People rely on those devices and it’s almost like a life line and now it’s an every day occurrence,” Kelly said.

(606) 326-2657 — ajohnson@dailyindependent.com