April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and South County Fire encourages drivers and passengers to help keep roadways safe from preventable crashes by following these tips:

• Put away your phone if you don’t need it for navigation.
• Use features on your phone that turn off notifications while driving.
• Use hands-free features (but only if they don’t cause you to lose attention to the road).
• Don’t eat or drink while driving.
• Passengers can help by not creating distractions for drivers.
• If you see something, say something. A study of teen drivers found 90% would put away a distraction if asked by a peer.

“The good news is a state study shows 91% of us drive distraction-free. However, with hundreds of thousands of cars driving in our community each day, that leaves thousands who still drive distracted,” said Shawneri Guzman, South County Fire outreach manager. “Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road at all times to prevent crashes.”

South County Fire will be sharing safety information to raise awareness and promote distraction-free driving on social media throughout the month of April. The regional fire authority also teamed up with the Lynnwood Police Department and Snohomish County Target Zero for a video highlighting high-risk areas like construction zones and school zones where drivers need to pay extra attention. The video can be viewed on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gQoVN-LSZiE.

South County Fire provides fire and emergency medical services to 270,000 residents of Brier, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and unincorporated South Snohomish County.