Local agencies recognizing April as Distracted Driving Awareness Month

JACKSON, TN (WNBJ) - April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. As April comes to a close, many agencies throughout the community are putting extra emphasizes on distracted driving.

The month is a time spent raising awareness of the dangers associated with distracted driving. According to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security in 2020, there were over 20, 000 crashes in Tennessee involving a distracted driver – resulting in 69 fatalities.

Four of those distracted driving crashes happened in Madison County.

This awareness month hits home for Pam Redmond from the Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department. She lost her son, Joseph, to a distracted driver crash in 2016 and now she wants to do what she can to educate people of the dangers of distracted driving.

“If you were to cause an accident because you were distracted while you were driving maybe you’ll be injured, maybe you won’t be, but you could injure someone else. You could cause a death, the man who killed my son lived with tremendous guilt all the rest of his days. He was heartsick. It ruined his life too. It didn’t just kill my son or destroy my family’s lives, it destroyed him, and his family’s lives too," said Pam Redmond, the Administrative Director at Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department.

John Lawrence from the Teen Driver academy in Jackson spends extra time teaching preventative measures for distracted driving.

“When we talk about distracted driving, I tell them nothing is that important that it can not wait until you get to where you are going or if you need to make a phone call or send a text, pull over into a safe spot and do that then. I stress the fact that you know, we are losing too many young people out here today because of texting and driving,” said John Lawrence, the President and Instructor of Teen Driver Academy.

Driving is everyone’s responsibility and your actions on the roadways could cost you your life or someone’s else life. So, please keep your eyes on the road and do not drive distracted!