Distracted Driving Caused Over 15,000 Colorado Crashes in 2019

The numbers are disturbing.

Distracted driving caused over 15,000 accidents in Colorado last year, according to numbers just released by the Colorado Department of Transportation. These accidents resulted in over 4,000 injuries and 28 fatalities.

CDOT says there are four major contributors to distracted driving - eating or drinking, selecting entertainment on a device, talking on a hands-free-cell phone, and reading or sending a message on a cell phone.

What's even more disturbing are the results of a 2020 CDOT driver survey in which 92% of respondents admitted to distracted driving in the past 7 days.

All of us have done it, and most of us have probably been pretty lucky that nothing bad has ever happened while we are driving distracted. Bad things can happen so fast - in a moment - in the blink of an eye. Not only does distracted driving put your life in danger, it's putting others at risk. Nobody wants to live with the consequences and guilt of injuring somebody or causing their death. No text message is worth that.

The fact is, we're all pretty arrogant when it comes to our driving skills. We think we can multi-task without any problem, but, it only takes one time for your life to change forever -- in a bad way. In the five seconds, your eyes are off the road, someone's life could be snuffed out and maybe even your own. Maybe you've been lucky so far, but the more times you engage in distracted driving practices, the more likely it is that something really bad is going to happen.

CDOT has some good advice on reducing your risky behavior and making Colorado roads a safer place to be. In 2019, CDOT launched the Whole System Whole Safety initiative with the goal of getting everyone home safely.  With more than 15,000 distracted driving accidents last year, that is more than 1000 every month. We have to do better.