Everyone (literally, everyone!) knows that distracted driving causes horrific crashes and needless deaths. You don’t need to see the commercials on tv, the billboards on the highway, or the horrifying videos on youtube to remind you.

April is National Distracted Driving month. In a study of 1,000 drivers, 98% of people surveyed said they knew the dangers distracted driving. (And we think the other 2% are lying.)

So why do 75% of people do it anyway?

David Greenfield, a Medical School professor who led the above study said it’s often because of a disconnect between what people know and how they behave.

Countless people every day use their phones behind the wheel and get where they’re going safely. They assume they’re better drivers than other people, that the dangers of distracted driving don’t apply to them. A false sense of security is created, one that can have deadly consequences.

As with any other addiction, the problem can’t be addressed until addicts acknowledge it.

Creating education campaigns, using variable message signs, and returning driver focus to the road are all good short term solutions.

But the long term remedy to the epidemic on our roads is getting people to admit they’re addicted and involving them in their own recovery.

Imagine how many lives would be saved if everyone would just put their phones in their trunks.