Cellphones are the newest disattraction on the scene of course.
Dropped cigarettes, reaching for the glove box, leaning over to get something that fell into the floor, turning around to admonish a child, fiddling with the radio/entertainment center....
all of that is in the same category as the cellphone...
anything that distracts us is dangerous....
for me, I would constantly get irritated by the wife asking me, "Did you see that house over there?" or something like that....
my answer is always the same, "No dear, I don't have time to gawk at the scenery, I have to keep my eyes on the road".
One of the employers I used to work for required us to attend a "Smith Driver Training System" class each year.
One of the trainers would come to our work location and the whole entire office was shut down for 8 hours.
I got to where I kind of enjoyed that, and after about 10+ years it has become a part of my driving habits...
Getting drowsy? Get the eyescan up, start checking all of the mirrors and back to the road every second... then find a safe place to get off the road and take a nap.
Cell phone indulgence is worse than any of those.
Have kids? Learn how to implement verbal threats that actually scare the shit out of them without raising your voice or turning around to yell (I've mastered it)
I've dropped enough cigarettes to learn that, whether it's on the rug for 1 second or 30 seconds, it's gonna leave a burn mark. Spare us all and pull over when it's safe.
Drink iced coffee instead. It won't burn you if spilled in your lap.
Tell your spouse or passengers to STFU
Change radio station when stopped. Although some newer cars are limiting function when in motion, yay...
It's all common sense, minus the common nowadays it seems.
There is no smart way to use a cell phone while driving, despite lots of people saying they've never caused an accident or came close to one (yeah bullshit) or they can handle it.... Nope. These are the same people that text while driving a car, but use the phone while standing outside of it, I'll never figure that one out. I sucked at texting and driving, so I stopped doing it.
Maybe they should have steering wheels that need to have two hands on before an annoying ding happens. They do it for seatbelts, hmm? After a short time the seatbelt minder in my Honda made me bite it and buckle up because it's very annoying. I actually looked for the dinger and was so ready to rip the entire dashboard out.. (actually bought the FSBs to do this) it's just easier to fasten the belt...
I now buckle up in my old minivan that doesn't care if you buckle up or not... I'm extremely stubborn. It trained me. Now after many incidents where people have nearly killed me and my children (4 of them), I'm an advocate for anyone who wants this crap to stop.