COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine Thursday announced the formation of a permanent Distracted Driving Advisory Council to combat a problem that the state says claimed more than 50 lives on Ohio’s roadways last year.
The advisory council will “develop a longstanding plan to change the culture surrounding distracted driving in Ohio,” according to a release from DeWine’s office.
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
Overall, traffic fatalities have increased in Ohio in four of the past five years, with smart phone distractions believed to be a contributing factor, he said.
Nearly 80,000 distracted driving crashes occurred in Ohio since 2013, DeWine said.
The Ohio Department of Transportation says that 52 people died in distracted-driving crashes in 2018.
A report from the Ohio Distracted Driving Task Force, which was formed by ODOT and the state Department of Public Safety last year to examine the scope of the distracted driving problem in Ohio and make suggestions on reducing crashes indicated that drivers between 16 and 25 had the highest number of distracted driving crashes between 2013 and 2017
A study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that engaging in visual-manual tasks, such as reaching for a phone, dialing, or texting with a handheld or portable device tripled the risk of a crash.
Ohio law bans the use of any electronic wireless communications devices for drivers under 18.
Texting while driving is illegal for all drivers but is a secondary offense for drivers 18 and above.