Verified by 
Key points
- Around 70 percent of licensed drivers who drove with their dogs in the past 12 months said their dogs were unrestrained in the vehicle.
- And 82 percent of survey participants agree that having an unrestrained dog in a moving vehicle can distract the driver.
- About 40 percent of surveyed drivers confessed to driving recklessly as a direct result of having their dog in the vehicle.
A few days ago, I found myself behind a car where the driver was a woman who had a small dog that looked like a beagle sitting on her lap. The dog was looking out of the half-open window but suddenly spun around and licked the woman's face. Apparently, the dog's tongue washed over her glasses, and she suddenly hit her brakes. Because of this, I was compelled to brake hard to avoid a collision. Meanwhile, the woman slipped off her glasses and quickly wiped them against her sleeve, put them back on, and then continued driving with the dog still on her lap. According to a new study by The Harris Poll, this kind of potentially dangerous distracted driving incident caused by an unrestrained dog in a vehicle is not all that unusual.
The New Survey Data
This new information comes from an online survey conducted on behalf of the Selective Insurance Group, Inc. Data was gathered from 2,044 American adults aged 18 and older. In this sample, there were 992 individuals who drove a vehicle with their dogs in the past 12 months. Around 74 percent drove with their dogs at least several times a month, while 65 percent had their pet in the car once a week or more. Around 19 percent admitted to having their dog with them daily while driving to work.
Are Dogs a Distraction?
Most of the survey participants (82 percent) agreed that having an unrestrained dog in a moving vehicle can distract the driver. Nonetheless, 70 percent of the licensed drivers who responded to the survey admitted that their own dogs were unrestrained in their vehicles. This is also despite the fact that a number of states in the U.S., and several provinces in Canada, have laws requiring an animal inside a vehicle to be restrained in some way to keep drivers safe and focused. However, awareness of these laws seems to be quite low since only 24 percent of those driving with their dogs said that they were very familiar with these laws, and 34 percent said they didn't even know such laws existed.
According to the survey, 38 percent of the canine passengers were unrestrained in the backseat. Twenty-four percent rode shotgun in the front passenger seat. Twenty-three percent of the dogs were in a passenger's lap, and remarkably, more than 1 in 7 (17 percent) typically rode in the driver's lap.
How Dogs Distract Drivers
Drivers do not treat their dogs as simply passive cargo during their trips. Fifty percent admit to petting their dog while driving, 40 percent talk to their dogs (or yell at them), and 36 percent give them treats or water while the car is in motion. Simply having the dog in the back seat of the car does not prevent interactions with them since one-third (33 percent) of drivers admit that they often turn to look back at them while the car is moving.
The Effect of Canine Distraction
One might argue that such interactions involving the presence of a pet in a car are fairly innocent and innocuous; however, the results of this survey seem to contradict that conclusion. Around 40 percent of those who have driven with their dog in the vehicle admitted that they engaged in some form of reckless driving because the dog was present at the time.
Specifically, 16 percent of these drivers claimed that interacting with the dog caused them to lose awareness of other nearby vehicles. Thirteen percent admitted to finding themselves in a situation that required them to brake hard to avoid a collision, while 11 percent swerved out of traffic lanes, and 10 percent did not use their turn signals. Most significantly, 9 percent of those driving with their dogs in the car admitted that their pet's presence contributed to their involvement in a car accident.
Some Protective Measures
In case of an accident or a sudden stop, an unrestrained dog can be quite dangerous. In effect, they become an unguided missile, as momentum hurls them forward. As such, they can cause harm to the humans in the car and also incur severe damage to themselves.
There are commercially available items that can provide some protection for everyone in the car, including the dog. There are dog seatbelts, safety harnesses, and easily installed partitions between the front and back seats. You can place the dog in a kennel crate, but the crate will have to be anchored in some way.
As a quick fix, if your dog already has a walking harness, all you need in addition is a large carabiner clip. Place your dog in the back seat, and slip the tang of the car's seatbelt into its buckle. Slip the carabiner clip through the metal ring(s) in the back of the dog's harness and attach it to the upper part of the seatbelt, and that's it. You can find variations of this trick on YouTube.
While such restraints can provide some protection from the damage and distractions caused by canines hurtling around inside a car, they do not eliminate the effects of the psychological distraction of having the dog in the car. The driver will still have to remember that if they want to interact with their dog, the safest course to take is to pull off of the road and spend a few minutes with the pet while safely out of traffic.
Copyright SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
References
Distracted Driving Pet Study, Selective Insurance/Harris Poll, March 2023. https://www.selective.com/about-selective/blog/unique-perspectives/dist…
