Let’s admit it. Almost all of us have been guilty of using our cell phone while driving. Most of us have also sent or received texts while driving as well. As text messaging becomes more popular the number of driving while texting (DWT) accidents is skyrocketing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that distracted drivers account for almost 80% of all crashes and 65% of near-crashes in the United States.
According to two recent studies by the American Automobile Association (AAA) and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, the risk of a car accident increases by 50% for people who text message while driving and those who texted while driving increased their crash risk by 23 times.
The following video is a graphic Welsh Public Service Announcement that depicts the dangers of driving while texting. We recommend that all adult and teen drivers watch the video.
Driving while texting is dangerous because studies have shown:
- texting while driving causes a 400 percent increase in time spent with your eyes off the road
- texting took a driver’s focus away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds – enough time to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph
- text messaging and using iPods caused drivers to leave their lanes 10 percent more often
- drivers that text and drive become more than one third slower than if they were coherent and not texting. This leads to slower stop times, swerving in and out of lanes, slowed driving speed and longer speed up times after texting.
In fact, driving while texting is more dangerous in terms of reaction time than driving while under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs. Text messaging lowered reaction time by 35 percent, while people high on marijuana slowed down 21 percent and those who were drunk slowed down by 12 percent.
Driving While Texting is Even More of a Danger for Teens
While teens are less experienced drivers than adults, the danger really lies in that they use texting as a primary form of communication with their friends. The average U.S. teenager now sends or receives an average of 2,899 text-messages per month and almost 50% of all drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 admit to texting while driving.
Each year, 21% of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of cell phone usage. This result has been expected to grow as much as 4% every year. In 2007 alone, driver distractions, such as using a cell phone or text messaging, contributed to nearly 1,000 crashes involving 16- and 17-year-old drivers.
In order to help reduce teen driving while texting, parents need to be firm with their teens. A joint study conducted by according SADD and Liberty Mutual showed 52 percent of teens say their parents are unlikely to follow through on punishment if they drive and text-message so they will continue to do it while only 36 percent of teens believed their parents would penalize them.
Legislation and Insurance Policies
Many states and even congress are now looking to ban driving while texting. A bill is being introduced in the Senate for a national ban of driving while texting and emailing. Utah being the more extreme example with a possible 15 year prison sentence for those who cause an accident while texting. Even insurance companies are starting to look at your cell phone usage prior to an accident to decide how they will handle your accident claims. In the near future, we are likely to see punitive damages and jail time for people who drive while texting and cause accidents, similar to DUIs.
Remember if you have to use your cell phone to make a call or text, the safest thing to do is pull over and stop in a safe location first and then use your phone.
