Local law enforcement officers can recall accounts of fatal accidents and those resulting in injuries that could easily have been avoided, if only the driver had been following the simplest rule of the road: Pay attention.

Lt. Matt Pearson of the Butler Township Police Department remembers a crash earlier this month in which a 50-year-old man received a text from his wife, looked away from the road to read it and crashed into a telephone pole.

Pearson said the man's injuries merited a flight to a Pittsburgh hospital for treatment.

But Pearson said a cell phone isn't the only thing that distracts drivers from their task of safely proceeding down the roads and highways of Pennsylvania.

Eating, adjusting the GPS and even interacting with others in the vehicle can take a driver's focus away from the road.

“Anything that distracts you is taking your attention away from driving,” Pearson said. “You should be focused 100% on driving.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website, distracted driving claimed 2,841 lives in 2018 across the United States. Of those killed, 1,730 were drivers, 605 passengers, 400 pedestrians and 77 bicyclists.The site said sending or receiving a text message takes a driver's eyes off the road for five seconds, which is the same time it takes to drive the length of a football field at 55 m.p.h.Pearson said while distracted driving injures and kills drivers of all ages, one demographic sees the most accidents.“Teens are at a higher risk to be seriously injured or killed because of inexperience,” he said.He said chain reaction crashes on busy roads such as New Castle Road in Butler Township are often caused by someone looking at their phone, looking out the window or otherwise distracted and crashing into the back of the vehicle in front of them.The vehicle behind the distracted driver then crashes into them because they are unable to stop in time.Pearson had some advice for parents of new and teen drivers.“Practice what you preach,” he said. “If you are telling a kid not to be using their cellphone while driving the car, parents shouldn't be using theirs either.”Pearson recommends all drivers use the safe driving apps available on the Apple App Store or Play Store on Android, or through the many insurance companies that offer safe driving apps.“There are more and more apps coming out,” Pearson said. “They're very popular.”

Cpl. Gregory Brandt, a collision analysis and reconstruction specialist with State Police Troop D, said distracted driving is a problem in Western Pennsylvania.“There is a high percentage of that happening,” Brandt said.He said in addition to cellphone use, distractions can include trying to pick up an object dropped in the car, adjusting the radio, daydreaming or anything else that takes a driver's attention away from the road.Brandt said one crash his team investigated revealed that the driver was on social media and slammed into another car, killing one of its occupants.“Your eyes should only be focused on the roadway and roadway signs and traffic,” Brandt said.