Department of Public Safety reminding drivers about distracted driving

CEDAR RAPIDS - Distracted driving caused four fatalities and 324 injuries in 2014, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

However, some authorities believe the actual number of injuries related to distracted driving are underreported.

'I think those stats are very skewed in the wrong way,” said Trooper Bob Conrad, who is based in District 11, which includes Linn and Johnson counties. 'We never report ‘It could have been.' Unless we know 100 percent, we don't check the box. I think the stats out there are very small compared to what they are.”

Regardless of the actual numbers, authorities agree that distracted driving is dangerous. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, texting while driving is six times more dangerous than driving drunk. And, a study from the Cohen Children's Medical Center found texting and driving to be the leading cause of death among U.S. teens.

Distracted driving is nothing new, Conrad said, but now - thanks to smartphones - it's 'really just blowing up.”

'We've had other things that have been challenges - getting the seat belt rate up, trying to lower drunken driving,” Conrad said. 'Then we come along with something like cellphones and we create a huge distraction issue ... It really is an epidemic, almost.”

According to the Department of Public Safety, driving and texting use cognitive functions that the brain cannot process simultaneously. And when the brain is distracted, drivers don't have enough time to react on the road, Conrad said.

'If your mind's not there and you don't react in the amount of time you have, things turn bad,” he said.

While the Department of Public Safety said April is distracted driving awareness month, Conrad admits there is not a lot authorities can do to prevent it aside from informing the public about its perils. Texting while driving in Iowa is a secondary offense, meaning authorities cannot make a traffic stop for that infraction alone.

Conrad said the state patrol is also short staffed these days, making it difficult to do any special projects aimed at distracted driving while still responding to calls for service.

'We're so short-handed,” he said. 'It's hard to do special projects.”