DISTRACTED DRIVING IS MORE THAN JUST ABOUT CELL PHONES

April is Dis­tracted Dri­ving Aware­ness Month and offi­cials are remind­ing motorists that it includes more than just cell­phone use.

Accord­ing to the Ohio High­way Patrol, dis­tracted dri­ving includes any­thing that takes a motorist’s atten­tion away from the pri­mary task of dri­ving. Dis­trac­tions can be visual — tak­ing your eyes off the road; man­ual — tak­ing your hands off the wheel; or cog­ni­tive — tak­ing your mind off dri­ving.

While offi­cers say that cell­phone use is def­i­nitely one of the biggest dis­trac­tions, they also say just talk­ing in gen­eral can be a dis­trac­tion.

They also say one of the dis­trac­tions they see most fre­quently is dri­vers using GPS units.

Eat­ing behind the wheel isn’t always a big prob­lem, but one offi­cer said he stopped a dri­ver who was cook­ing. He said it was a guy dri­ving a semi cook­ing tor­tillas as he drove down the interstate.