Deadly accidents, dreary weather renew concerns about distracted driving

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s dark, it might even be raining, so please don’t pick up your phone while you are driving.

It seems drivers are just not getting the message, and an emergency doctor with Eagle Ridge Hospital doesn’t think people really understand how deadly the situation can potentially be.

Dr. Mike Mostrenko sees first hand how bad it is.

“I think this is the danger in the closet, we haven’t really embraced this as we have with impaired driving. It’s great to see with all the publicity that the impaired driving casualties have started to decrease over the last few years, while at the same time the distracted driving ones are increasing.”

Several years ago, Mostrenko himself was involved in a crash with a woman who was on the phone when he was hit.

As a doctor, he is asking drivers to please think of others when they go to reach for their phones.

“We never like bringing bad news to families. We know that probably 90 per cent or more of these injuries are entirely predictable and preventable, so the hardest part of our job is bringing bad news to loved ones and we do this, unfortunately, all to often.”

Passengers, offer to make or take a call , so the drivers full attention stays on the road.

Research shows five seconds of texting while driving at highway speeds is like driving blindfolded for the length of a football field or four city blocks.

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