Educating motorists during Distracted Driving Awareness Month

In a video response to questions from Twitter, Facebook, and his blog, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, reminds us that April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

The League has been working to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving and support state laws to outlaw it. See our Advocacy Advance report on Distracted Driving. While the League focuses every day on cyclist education, distracted driving campaigns are important because they put the onus on drivers to do the right thing in keeping themselves and all road users safe. In that spirit, this month we are sending a mailing to ask members to support our work to do even more to stand up for cyclists and make motorists accountable.

The Bicycle Friendly State program evaluates motorist education programs and allows us to share best practices, create model driving test questions, and provide solid information to DMVs and driving instructors. We will continue to work with the Department of Transportation as well as pedestrian and motorcyclist groups and participate in the Decade of Action on Road Safety, which is being launched during Bike Month — and, of course, we will continue to spread the word about Distracted Driving. This story from Minnesota shows that distracted driving is still a major problem for cyclists.

We are telling motorists that sharing the road is a two-way street.