Our Cell Phone Answering Service Shares Why You Need to Put the Cell Away While Driving

Each day in the United States, more than 9 people are killed and more than 1,153 people are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are three main distractions that can occur while driving.

 1. Taking Your Eyes Off the Road Causes Car Crashes

 Visual Distractions

Taking your eyes off the road for any period of time would be considered a visual distraction. Cell phone use would definitely fall into this category. Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association warns, “Driving a car is a very complex task. It requires your complete attention. All it takes is a glance away for more than two seconds and you can get into serious trouble.”

Don’t believe the experts? Take a look at this quick viral video produced for an audience waiting to see a movie in Hong Kong.  We believe this effective advertisement really showcases what could happen when you look down for a split second.

Using a location based broadcaster, the creators of the commercial sent a text message to every moviegoer in the theater.  Watch what happens a moment after they all look down to read the text.

SMART SOLUTION:     If you sincerely feel that receiving your text messages 24/7 is so very important, we suggest hiring a cell phone answering service to answer all of your cell phone communications. With plans as little as $19.95 per month you can have our virtual receptionists advise your caller that you are unavailable at the moment but you will return their call, text or email as soon as you reach your destination. 

2. Taking Your Hands Off the Wheel Causes Car Crashes

Manual Distractions

Removing your hands from your steering for any reason constitutes a manual distraction. Of course, in order to cruise through your cell phone, you must remove your hands from the wheel and thumb through that smart phone. The reason both of your hands are required to remain on the wheel is so that you can be ready in a moment’s time to make turns to keep control of your vehicle.

Let’s say you are a world class driver and have never caused an accident in your entire history of driving. What happens when a driver in front of you suddenly stops? What do you do when a child runs out in front of your car? What would your reaction be if a car on the opposite side of the road crosses the line and comes head on into your lane? If both of your hands were firmly placed on the wheel, you would quickly swerve out of the way and put your defensive driving skills to the test.

However, if you had one of your hands on your cell phone, it would take your brain a few seconds to tell your hand to drop the phone and grab the steering wheel. What damage can be caused to you or an innocent pedestrian during those seconds it took your body to go into a proper reaction mode? Sometimes fast isn’t fast enough and you have to ask yourself, is clutching your cell phone while commuting really that important?            

SMART SOLUTION:     We understand there are very busy and important professionals that simply cannot afford to miss a call or mobile communication. We also understand that we are an award winning cell phone answering service that has been answering business lines for busy professionals since 1986. Allow our professional 24 hour virtual receptionists to answer your cell phone when you cannot. You can even give us instructions on how to handle certain calls you are expecting and provide a standard procedure for handling those very important callers.      

3. Taking Your Mind Off Driving Causes Car Crashes

Cognitive Distractions

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “The temporal constraints which occur during an emergency inhibit the functioning of the supervisory attentional system (SAS), which leads to the victim showing cognitive paralysis.” In layman’s terms, if you are not completely attentive to the road while driving, when an emergency situation occurs, your mind could actually fail to respond or may even freeze.

Most people seek out hands-free cell phone solutions so that they can continue to drive and carry on conversations or cleverly talk text. Since driving accidents include cognitive distractions, you still cannot justify communicating on your mobile device while driving, even if it is hands-free.     

SMART SOLUTION:     Our cell phone answering service is 100% dedicated to helping keep you and others safe on the road. Please, allow us to bring our 30 years of experience in professional call handling to make sure you are always focused on any task at hand; like driving.      

We Hope You Know Our Cell Phone Answering Service Cares

Our live receptionist team is standing by to help you get rid of the habit of talking or texting while driving. Please give us a call at 1-800-785-6161 to discuss the unique solutions we can offer you to arrive safely home to your family and loved ones.