CHAMBLEE, Ga. — Crashes, phones, friends in the car, blasting music, all of these things can be distractions on the road.
It’s causing the number of people dying on Georgia roads to go up, according to state officials.
Channel 2’s Lori Wilson was at Nathan’s Driving School in Chamblee, where a big focus on learning to drive there is learning to avoid distractions.
“There’s always something going on when you’re behind the wheel that you have to be fully present and mentally and physically focused,” Rachel Galotti, at Nathan’s, said.
Recent data from Georgia’s Governor’s Office of Highway Safety showed that fatal crashes due to distracted driving have increased.
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In 2023, 44 crashes from distracted driving were deadly.
In 2024, the most recent year with data available, there were 71 deaths.
Galotti told Channel 2 Action News that the increase wasn’t a surprise.
Nathan’s Driving School has been around for 40 years and things have changed. Galotti said there’s now an entire section of the textbook that’s all about distracted driving.
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“Cellphones created a whole new world of issues,” Galotti said.
But at Nathan’s, Galotti said staff empower students to map out their ride before even starting the car, teach them to keep the radio low and to have phones set to auto-respond to messages when driving.
They also tell their students to put cell phones in glove boxes to help resist the temptation.
“Georgia has a hands-free law, but even with hands-free, if you’re taking your eye off to look at your device, you’re taking your eye off the road for a second,” Galotti said.
Caitlyn Elmore, 14, is taking driver’s ed at Nathan’s.
She said the school’s lessons help.
“It’s kind of scary, but I know that I can focus,” Elmore said.
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