Kentucky Office of Highway Safety joins anti-texting campaign

In honor of Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April, the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety (KOHS) said they are joining the “One Text or Call Could Wreck It All” campaign sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in an effort to make roadways safer.

The KOHS pledges to help spread the message that distracted drivers are a danger not only to themselves, but to everyone on the road. According to NHTSA, in 2009 alone, nearly 5,500 people were killed and a half million more individuals were injured in distracted driving crashes. That same year, 20% of injury-related crashes involved reports of distracted driving.  

While anything that takes your eyes off the road, hands off the wheel, or mind off the task of driving is a hazard, there is heightened concern about the risks of texting while driving because it combines all three types of distraction – visual, manual and cognitive, KOHS said in a report by WOWK News, a CBS affiliate.

The national distracted driving effort focuses on ways to change the behavior of drivers through legislation, enforcement, public awareness and education.