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On Sept. 20, Gov. Kay Ivey awarded $1.03 million in grants to help reduce distracted driving statewide. 

Distracted driving is one of the lead causes of vehicle accidents and the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) is administering the grants from funds made available to Alabama by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Gov. Ivey and I support the efforts of the Alabama Department of Public Health to educate the public to make travel as safe as possible for everyone through education and proper training and inspection,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell. “ADECA is pleased to partner with the department in its efforts to make Alabama’s roads safer.”

Demopolis Police Chief Rex Flowers said that while distracted driving happens on the city’s streets, the problem exists everywhere.

“I believe distracted driving is a problem everywhere, not just here. Technology is continuously developing and is providing more distractions,” Flowers said. 

It is not just cell phones that are causing distractions, however. Flowers listed off several other things that can distract a driver such as people or animals on the roadside, and being in unfamiliar places as people can be distracted by new sights and sounds.

Flowers’ advice to drivers was simple.

“Pay attention to what you’re doing. Pay attention to signs, traffic signals, and the law. Get to where you’re going and then handle your cell phone,” Flowers said. 

According to www.lucklaw.net, roughly 155,000 car accidents occur every year in
Alabama, and many are due to distracted driving. The report also stated that “a texting driver has 23 times the risk of a crash than drivers who keep their phones down.”