Take a minute to think about those you associate with. They seem normal; don’t they? It’s doubtful that anyone seems to be a threat to society. With five friends you know, chances are good that at least one person would be a danger by texting while they drive. Statistics say that person is between the ages of sixteen to thirty-four.
If you text and drive, you’re twenty-three
times more likely to have a car crash. Texting while driving has become the
number one driving distraction for many people. Drivers need to be aware of the
dangers and keep their attention on the road, not on their cell phones or other
mobile devices.
If
you have a habit of taking your eyes off the road to tap out a text message,
cell phone distractions can increase reaction time as much as if you had a .08%
blood alcohol concentration. If you
can’t resist taking a look at that incoming text message while you’re behind
the wheel, do yourself and everyone else a favor. Turn your phone off
before placing the key in the ignition. Here are some statistics on texting and driving that will amaze
and scare you:
·
One out of four car accidents in the US are caused by texting while driving.
·
10%
of adults and 20% of teenagers have admitted that they have entire
conversations over text message platforms while driving.
·
25%
of teens respond to at least one text while driving, every single time.
·
37,000+
people die in automobile crashes in the US every year
·
48%
of kids in their younger teenage years have been in a car while the driver was
texting. Over 1600 children in the same age group are killed each year because
of crashes involving texters.
·
94%
of teenagers understand the consequences of texting and driving, but 35% of
them admitted that they do it anyway.
·
Driving with a cell phone in hand causes
1,600,000 accidents and 330,000 injuries every year. Texting and driving is
responsible for about 25 percent of all accidents.
·
Every
day, eleven teenagers die because they were texting while driving.
·
It
takes an average of three seconds after a driver’s mind is taken off the road
for any road accident to occur. This is the bare minimum amount of time it
takes, and it is surprisingly small.
·
Of
these, 1.6 million have a cell phone involved in them. That’s 64% of all the
road accidents in the United States. Over half the road accidents in the States
have cell phones involved, and if this doesn’t make you realize just how potent
it is, what will?
·
Reading
a text message while driving successfully distracts a driver for a minimum of
five seconds each time.
·
Teen
drivers have a 400% higher chance of being in a car crash when texting while
driving than adults.
·
Texting
and driving is six times more likely to get you in an accident than drunk
driving.
·
Texting and driving is similar to driving
blind for five seconds at a time. Texting and driving slows your brake-reaction
speed by 18 percent and makes you about 6 times more likely to cause an
accident than driving drunk.
“Dear Parents, if you don't want
me to text while driving, don't text me when you know I am driving.” ((ILiketoQuote.com)[i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“5
Science-Backed Reasons Not to Text and Drive” by
Men’s Fitness Editors
·
“6 Reasons not to Text While
Driving” (https://capitol-tires.com/6-reasons-not-to-text-while-driving.html)
·
“Don’t Text and
Drive” (http://www.donttextdrive.com/)
·
“The 25 Scariest Texting and Driving Accident
Statistics” by Luke Ameen
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