April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month

By Matt Venezia

Published: Apr. 2, 2025 at 6:51 AM EDT|Updated: Apr. 2, 2025 at 8:06 AM EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Distracted driving continues to be one of the most under-reported behaviors when driving your vehicle, according to the National Distracted Driving Coalition.

Whether it is cell phone usage or changing the radio, distractions must be minimized when driving to keep you and your passenger safe on the roadways, as well as passengers and drivers of other vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says there are more than 325,000 serious injuries every year related to distracted driving. Specifically, here in Louisiana, 802 lives were lost in vehicle crashes in 2023, and 200 of those were caused by distracted driving.

A survey conducted by the N.H.T.S.A. says 27 percent of individuals use social media while driving their vehicles.

The Executive Director of the Gweedo Memorial Foundation, Tammy Gweedo McGee, spoke to WAFB about this trend and topic. Her son, Joseph Conner Williams Guido, aka “Gweedo”, along with two others, were killed in a distracted-driving-related vehicle crash on October 26, 2019. Through her son’s tragic death, Tammy Gweedo has become a strong advocate for teen safety driver education courses in the state of Virginia. She has helped pass four bills in Virginia related to distracted driving.

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