Today's drivers face more distractions than ever before. Technological gadgets from smart phones to MP3 players give drivers new reasons to look away from the road.

Distracted driving is any activity a person engages in that can distract him or her from the primary task of driving. There are three main types of distraction:

1. Visual:Taking eyes off the road.

2. Cognitive: Not thinking about what you're doing.

3. Manual: Taking hands off the wheel.

Distracted driving may include talking on a cell phone, eating food in the car, thumbing through the maps on a GPS device, or even changing the radio station. But the type of distracted driving that has become an epidemic, particularly among younger drivers, is texting while driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group. As texting has become the preferred method of communication, a large percentage of automobile accidents might be due to texting.

When driving, the safest bet is to refrain from any activity that takes one's eyes, hands or mind away from the road. If answering a cell phone or working with another device is necessary, drivers should pull over to the side of the road and take care of what they need to do.

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