KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Tennessee Highway Safety Office’s “Operation Hands Free” is underway across Tennessee, and a bus tour through Knoxville Wednesday helped law enforcement officers spot distracted drivers.
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, which kicked off with THSO’s statewide “Operation Hands Free.” The goal of the campaign is preventing distracted driving and crashes caused by distracted drivers. While many people instantly think of using a cell phone while driving as distracted driving, the list of things that distracted drivers do is much longer than just using a cell phone.
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“Anything that takes your attention off of that operation is distracted. And it can be looking at the phone, answering the call. I’ve seen people reading books going down the roadway, makeup, eating food, anything that takes your attention off that safe operation,” Tennessee Highway Patrol Captain Eric Miller said.
He explained that in distracted driving crashes where drivers are still able to talk to troopers, they often tell troopers the reasoning for the crash and realize the magnitude of what could have happened. Dr. Davis Berry, a trauma and acute care surgeon at the University of Tennessee Medical Center explained some of the types of injures they can see as a result of crashes…