{"id":215074,"date":"2017-06-17T13:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-06-17T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=215074"},"modified":"2017-06-17T13:03:46","modified_gmt":"2017-06-17T11:03:46","slug":"drive-dont-talk-or-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/215074-drive-dont-talk-or-text.html","title":{"rendered":"Drive &#8211; don&#8217;t talk or text"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The AA has warned drivers that talking on a cellphone, or texting, puts lives at risk.<\/p>\n<p>It said that distracted driving remains a problem in South Africa, and will continue to remain one unless drastic action is taken.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile stricter law enforcement is needed, it\u2019s the attitude of motorists which needs the biggest change,\u201d said the AA.<\/p>\n<p>Studies have shown that when drivers are distracted, their ability to operate a vehicle is impaired.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMotorists who use mobile devices while behind the wheel need to change their attitudes and take responsibility for their actions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy talking on a cellphone, or texting while driving, these irresponsible drivers can cause a crash that injures or kills other people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>No one is immune to the dangers of being distracted, it said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough there are no current local statistics on how distracted driving causes crashes, there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest this number is large enough to warrant urgent attention.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The following distractions are among the most prevalent:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Talking on cellphones, or texting while driving.<\/li>\n<li>Eating while driving.<\/li>\n<li>Putting on ties or clothing while driving.<\/li>\n<li>Applying makeup while driving.<\/li>\n<li>Looking to the back seat to engage passengers.<\/li>\n<li>Setting GPS devices while moving.<\/li>\n<li>Searching for items in the car while driving.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cPut your cellphone in the boot of your car before driving off, and put on your tie or makeup before you get going,\u201d said the AA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you use a GPS device, set the destination before embarking on your journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRemember: if you don\u2019t focus on the road, there is a 100% likelihood you will not avoid a crash while distracted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/197259-using-a-smartphone-while-driving-is-dangerous-even-when-youre-hands-free.html\">Using a smartphone while driving is dangerous \u2013 even when you\u2019re hands-free<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A driver talking on a cellphone, or texting, needs to realise that their actions put lives at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":215778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[10698,35,12981],"class_list":["post-215074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-aa","tag-headline","tag-texting-while-driving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215074"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215074"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215776,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215074\/revisions\/215776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}