POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Salma Tirado is getting one last practice before taking her official road test. She will be the first person in her friend group to get her driver's license.
“I’m going to be driving them everywhere,” Tirado said.
The 16-year-old is learning that building good driving habits starts now because they will stick with you.
“When you have people in the car, try not to pay attention to what they are saying to you. Have them be silent. Also, not paying attention to your phone, having it somewhere where you won't be distracted by it,” Tirado said.
Cheryl Giles, the owner of Atlantic Driving School in Winter Haven, said the dangers of distracted driving are part of their 10-hour course.
“So many different things that take their attention away. Probably social media is the biggest thing. They get a Snapchat, or they get a text. So that is one of the biggest things that we do work with them on,” said Giles.
Giles said young drivers have way more distractions today than when Atlantic Driving School opened more than 25 years ago.
“We had AM/FM radios back then. We didn’t have all these distractions. We didn’t have phones. We didn’t have our phones alert us; our cars alert us when somebody’s trying to contact us,” said Giles.
Anything that takes your attention away from driving can be a distraction. Sending a text, talking on a cell phone, using a navigation system, and eating while driving are a few examples.
“Diverting your attention from the roadway, things happen especially at higher speeds. You're moving so much of a distance and not realizing how far you’ve traveled,” said Sgt—Doug Mills with Lakeland Police Department.
Florida law bans texting while driving and prohibits drivers from using handheld cellphones while driving in school and work zones.
Sgt. Mills, a motorcycle officer with the Lakeland Police Department, said enforcing the law can be challenging.
“When someone’s driving by 50 miles an hour, it’s going to be hard to see, so the way we typically enforce this is usually when we’re in our vehicle, or in my case on a motorcycle, and you’re actually riding next to the person. That way, you’re kind of matching speed, and you can look over and actually see it,” Mills said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, nine people are killed in the United States daily in crashes involving a distracted driver.
To prevent this dangerous behavior, law enforcement officers suggest drivers use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to keep their hands free.
“Because nothing's worse than getting into that traffic crash and causing serious bodily injury or fatality. It's not worth it,” Mills said.
