April 3 is National Walking Day and with the beautiful weather, you may notice more people out walking in Carlsbad. Whether you’re walking or driving, it’s essential to pay attention and put away any distractions that could take your eyes off the road and your surroundings including phones, music or food.

To kick off Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released some sobering facts:

• In 2022, more than 3,300 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers.
• An additional 289,000 people were injured in these crashes.
• It’s estimated that 373,000 drivers were talking on their phones while driving at any given moment in 2021.

If you have a young driver at home, it’s important to talk to them about focusing when they’re behind the wheel. Young drivers are among the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted at the time of fatal crashes.

Having a hard time resisting the urge to check your phone when you’re driving? Here are a few tips from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

• Before you get in the car, turn on your phone’s “Do not disturb” feature.
• If you’re riding with other people in the car, hand your phone to your passenger. They can reply to any time-sensitive texts for you.
• Put your phone in the backseat or even your trunk before you get behind the wheel. Out of sight, out of mind.

View more traffic safety tips.