Stop driving distracted – put your phone on “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode
Distracted driving – everyone knows it’s illegal, everyone knows it’s dangerous, but people still do it all the time. In fact, nearly 3 out of 4 Canadian drivers have admitted to driving distracted!
Why is that? Well, for starters, it can be hard to resist a “quick glance” at your phone screen when you hear your phone ding or vibrate with a notification (especially when you’re sitting in rush hour traffic!) Once you’ve seen that text message from your bae, that Facebook or Instagram notification from your bestie, that work email from your boss, or that notification from the hottest new dating app letting you know the cutie you’ve been eyeing swiped right, it’s sooo much easier to justify “quickly taking a look / replying at a red light”. It’s not like you’re moving that fast anyways, right?
WRONG – studies show that you’re 23 times more likely to crash if you text while driving.
Why not remove the temptation altogether by putting your phone on “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode? That way you won’t be tempted to put your life and the lives of others in danger when you see a notification pop up on your phone.
How to put your phone on “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode
iPhone users
iOS 11 and above
Apple has developed a really cool feature to try to reduce distracted driving – “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode. It’s available for iOS 11 and above. If you set your phone to “Turn On While Driving”, your phone will automatically enter “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode when your iPhone does either of these two things
- Detects that you are driving (senses driving motion)
- Connects to your car via Bluetooth
Instructions for turning this on can be found on Apple’s website, linked below:
How to use Do Not Disturb While Driving on your iPhone
iOS 10 and below
If you have iOS 10 or below, you won’t have access to “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode, but you can manually activate “Do Not Disturb” mode when you know you’ll be driving.
Instructions for using this setting can be found Apple’s website, linked below:
Use Do Not Disturb on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Android phones
For phones with Android operating systems installed, such as Nexus and Samsung smartphones, you can activate “Do Not Disturb” mode when you know you’ll be driving by following the instructions from Nexus Help linked below:
Do Not Disturb on Android
Android Auto
Android also offers a tool called Android Auto, which is a simpler, safer way to use your phone in the car. More information on Android Auto can be found on Android’s website, linked below:
What is Android Auto?
Google Pixel 2 & Google Pixel 3 phones
If you have a Google Pixel 2 or Google Pixel 3 phone, you can set up “Driving Mode” to turn on automatically, similar to how Apple’s “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode works. Instructions from Pixel Phone Help are linked below:
Have driving mode turn on automatically on your Pixel phone
Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode and you could win 1 of 8 $25 gas cards
Not only could you be saving your own life or the life of others by completing this simple task, if you do it before April 26, 2019, you could win 1 of 8 $25 gas cards! Cheep Insurance running a contest to encourage people to take action to stop distracted driving. Thanks to our friends at Wawanesa Insurance for co-sponsoring this contest!
More resources on distracted driving
Here are some additional links and resources on distracted driving that we highly recommend you check out:
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