Car Insurance and Your Doggie!

AAA released a new report yesterday showing dogs to be a distraction to drivers in a variety of ways. By now the cell phone distraction is well-known as well as the effects of road rage and also of intoxicants, but now our dogs are part of the problem too.

The most common distraction is petting the dog while driving and a majority 52% of respondents admitted to that one. Here are the others: nearly one-fourth admitted to holding the dog with their hand or arm while braking and 19% admitted they had taken their hands off the steering wheel to prevent their dog from climbing into the front seat.

We might think it reasonable to pet our dog while its in the car, but what about allowing your pet to sit in your lap, seventeen percent, of drivers with pets admitted to doing this and thirteen percent feel its fine to feed their doggie treats while they are driving. The most outrageous are the last group three percent - who actually admitted taking photographs of their dogs while they were driving!

While a great many responding to the survey, eighty three percent, did recognize the danger of allowing a unrestrained pet within the car, the results showed that only sixteen percent had taken action to done restrain their dogs in the car..

In addition to the many other issues surrounding distracted driving, the best action is awareness. And importantly, the interest in this survey is creating new questions to ask, especially if you are a pet owner.

In fact, being a pet owner might be a new question that is asked when you are purchasing car insurance.