National Safety Council offers free course about the dangers of distracted diving, online all next week

April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, so the National Safety Council is offering a free, 45-minute online course about the dangers of distracted driving, available Sunday, April 15 through Saturday, April 21.

Distracted driving caused 3,477 deaths nationwide in 2015. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that people in rural areas are less likely to wear a seat belt and more likely to die in car crashes. For more information or to register for the online course, click here.

Even without factoring in distraction, rural drivers face additional dangers on the road: because inebriated people can't call a taxi or Uber in a rural area, they may be tempted to drive home. Fewer traffic lights means more room to speed. Rural drivers have older cars on average that may be prone to mechanical failure. Deer are more likely to jump out in front of drivers in rural areas. And when a crash happens, it can take much longer for an ambulance to arrive and take the victim to the hospital. Common sense dictates that combining any of those factors with distracted driving makes for even greater danger.