11.2 Distracted, Aggressive, and Drowsy Driving

11.2 Distracted, Aggressive, and Drowsy Driving

Quick Answer: Distracted driving is any activity that takes your eyes off the road, hands off the steering wheel, or mind off driving — a cell phone, texting, eating. Indiana prohibits use of a telecommunications device while operating a motor vehicle. Exceptions: hands-free communication is enabled, or the device is used to contact 911 for a bona fide emergency. Texting is the most alarming distraction: sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road five seconds. At 55 mph that is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed. It is illegal to text, call, or otherwise use telecom devices unless they are hands-free. Aggressive driving is at least three listed acts during one episode of continuous driving. About one-third of Indiana traffic fatalities come from dangerous driving (aggressive driving, disregarding a signal, or speeding). Drowsy driving: nationally an estimated 17.6% of fatal crashes involved a fatigued driver; 18 hours without sleep equals .08 BAC impairment; young adults 16–29 account for 64% of fatigue-related accidents. If you are tired, do not drive — sleep, pull over and nap, or let a well-rested person drive.

These rules sit in Indiana Driver's Manual Chapter 7 (Safe Vehicle Operation), under impaired and dangerous driving. Chapter 1 restates the public-safety device ban and defines a telecommunications device. The knowledge exam will mix statewide device law with GDL overlay from Chapter 2: learn both so you do not answer a teen question with the adult hands-free exception.

Drowsy driving: equal to .08 after 18 hours

Driving drowsy raises crash risk and can cause severe injury or death. Nationally, an estimated 17.6% of all fatal motor vehicle crashes involved a fatigued driver. Studies show that going 18 hours without sleep leaves a driver equally impaired to a driver with a .08 BAC — the same legal alcohol limit taught in the last section.

Anyone can make the fatal mistake of driving without adequate rest. Highest-risk groups in the manual:

• Young adults ages 16–29 — highest risk, accounting for 64 percent of fatigue-related accidents
• Shift workers
• Parents
• People taking sedative medications
• People with an untreated sleep disorder

Be prepared to stop driving if you cannot stay alert or you notice any of these signs:

• Falling asleep at stop lights
• Yawning, rubbing eyes, watery eyes, or heavy eyelids
• Difficulty remembering the last few miles or minutes driven
• Missing road signs or exits
• Changing lanes unexpectedly
• Head nodding or dropping
• Driving off the road or hitting rumble strips
• Failing to maintain a constant speed

If you drive drowsy you may become slower to respond, struggle to process complex information from different places at once, become careless in decisions, have trouble paying attention, or fall asleep at the wheel. Night driving makes fatigue worse; Chapter 7 tells you to be ready to stop if you see these signs.

Prevention (handbook list):

• Do not drive if you are tired.
• The best way to reduce drowsiness is to get more sleep.
• Pull over to a safe area as soon as you can and take a short nap.
• If possible, avoid driving during times you feel sleepy.
• Let a well-rested person drive.
• Consider carpooling, public transportation, a taxi, or asking a family member or friend to drive you.

Energy drinks and loud music are not on that list. A rumble strip is a warning you already drifted, not a caffeine substitute.

Distracted driving: eyes, hands, or mind

Driver distraction is a growing concern in Indiana and a major factor in many crashes. Distracted driving is any activity that takes your eyes off the road, hands off the steering wheel, or mind off of driving. The manual's examples include using a cell phone, texting, and eating. A burger in the right hand is still a hand off the wheel. A heated argument that leaves you staring through a green light is still a mind off driving.

Telecommunications devices: hands-free or 911

Indiana law prohibits the use of a telecommunications device while operating a motor vehicle. The only exceptions in the Chapter 7 statewide rule are:

• Hands-free communication is enabled, or
• The device is used to contact 911 for a bona fide emergency

Chapter 7 is blunt: while driving it is illegal to text, call, or otherwise use telecommunication devices such as cell phones unless they are hands-free. Chapter 1's public-safety restatement bans using a device to type, transmit, or read a text or an email while operating a moving motor vehicle unless it is used with hands-free or voice-operated technology or to make a 911 emergency call.

Indiana defines a telecommunications device as an electronic or digital device such as a wireless telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), pager, or text messaging device. That definition does not include citizen band (CB) radio equipment operated by a person licensed as a CB radio operator by the FCC, or a communications system installed in a commercial motor vehicle weighing more than 10,000 pounds. You may be assessed points on your driver record for using a telecommunication device while operating a motor vehicle.

Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for five seconds. At 55 mph, that is like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed. Memorize five seconds, 55 mph, and football field. Do not substitute "a few feet" or "one city block."

Probationary overlay (Chapter 2, not a loophole here): every Indiana driver is under the statewide hands-free or 911 rule. Probationary license holders may not use any telecommunications device while driving except to make a 911 emergency call. On a teen GDL item, do not volunteer hands-free as permission to handle the phone. This section's default exam answer for drivers generally is hands-free or bona fide 911.

Handheld calling "just this once," scrolling at a red light while the car is still an operating motor vehicle, and one-handed texting with the other hand on the wheel are not exceptions. A homework text is not a bona fide emergency. A deer in the lane and an injured passenger can be.

Aggressive driving and "dangerous driving" fatalities

Approximately one-third of all Indiana traffic fatalities occur due to "dangerous driving." A dangerous-driving accident is any collision stemming from a driver taking one or more of: aggressive driving, disregarding a signal, or speeding.

According to Indiana law, a person engages in aggressive driving if, during one episode of continuous driving, the person commits at least three of the following:

• Following a vehicle too closely
• Unsafe operation of a vehicle
• Overtaking another vehicle on the right by driving off the roadway
• Unsafe stopping or slowing a vehicle
• Unnecessary sounding of the horn
• Failure to yield
• Failure to obey a traffic control device
• Driving at an unsafe speed
• Repeatedly flashing the vehicle's headlights

Count three acts, one continuous episode. One speeding burst is speeding; it is not automatically the aggressive-driving combination. Two tickets in a calendar year is not the definition. A single honk to warn a pedestrian is not "unnecessary horn" plus two more acts. Tailgating, then darting off the pavement to pass on the right, then running the next signal in the same stretch is the pattern the statute describes.

Indiana scenarios

I-65 at 55, eyes on a text. Sending or reading that text takes five seconds. At 55 mph you cover a football field with your eyes closed. Hands-free talk is the statewide exception; looking down to type is not.

Circle Centre garage, bona fide 911. A crash in the next aisle with injuries: calling 911 is the emergency exception. Calling a friend to complain about traffic is not.

Third-shift nurse, 18 hours awake. After an 18-hour stretch she is in the same impairment band as .08 BAC. Young adults 16–29 are already the group in 64% of fatigue-related accidents. The handbook answer is do not drive, sleep, nap in a safe place, or let a rested person drive — not another energy drink.

US 31 tailgate-and-pass. In one continuous run a driver follows too closely, then overtakes on the right by leaving the roadway, then fails to obey the next signal. That is three listed acts in one episode — aggressive driving, not "just in a hurry."

Exam traps

• Treating handheld calling as legal if one hand stays on the wheel.
• Texting at a red light as if the vehicle were no longer being operated.
• Forgetting the 911 exception must be a bona fide emergency.
• Answering a probationary item with the adult hands-free permission.
• Replacing the football field / five seconds / 55 mph comparison with a made-up short distance.
• Calling one speeding act "aggressive driving" without three listed acts in one continuous episode.
• Mixing the one-third dangerous-driving fatality figure with the 17.6% national fatigue figure.
• Driving through yawns, rumble strips, and forgotten miles because "I am almost home."

Hands-free or bona fide 911, five seconds is a football field at 55, three listed acts make aggressive driving, and 18 hours awake is .08 tired.