Texting and Driving – The Ultimate Distraction. Approximately 15 deaths per day are attributed to distracted driving; nearly another 1,000 are injured. Distracted driving is defined as engaging in another activity that detracts from the actual act of driving.
Texting is especially dangerous because it involves taking your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, and your mind off of your driving.
According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, a driver who is text messaging is 23 times more likely to be involved in an auto accident than someone who’s not text messaging. Texting, or receiving a text message, on average takes a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, during which time a vehicle covers over a hundred yards (at 55 mph).
Statistics listed on the website www.textinganddrivingsafety.com are sobering. Cell phone use/texting while driving causes 1.6 million accidents per year; 330,000 injuries per year; and 11 teen deaths each day. A person who texts while driving is more likely to be involved in an accident than someone who drives while intoxicated. It is estimated that nearly 25 percent of all car accidents are caused by cell phone use/texting while driving.
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