Wyoming Highway Patrol: stay alert on the road

Lives are lost on Wyoming’s Interstates and highways every year. As summer travel plans become summer adventures, the Wyoming Highway Patrol shared some tips to get you to your destination safely. 

In the U.S. distracted driving claimed 2,841 lives in 2018 alone. That’s according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who define distracted driving as any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on a phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system — anything that takes attention away from the task of safe driving.

Texting is the most alarming distraction, according to the NHTSA. Sending or reading a text may take eyes off the road for 5 seconds, at 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field with eyes closed.

During an appearance on Sheridan Media’s Public Pulse, Wyoming Highway Patrol Lieutenant Erik Jorgensen shared some tips to listeners on techniques to stay alert on long road trips. 

To date, 36 fatalities have occurred on Wyoming’s highways in 2020.