From Examiner.com:
Texting while driving hits a little too close to home. My favorite cousin’s 17-year-old granddaughter died while driving and texting. Distracted, she hit a tree and was killed instantly. Her devastated family and friends miss her.
Last weekend, New York police ran a 24-hour crackdown on drivers texting or talking on the phone (which is similarly dangerous). They wrote 7,432 tickets, compared to 580 on a typical day.
Cell phones are almost a body part. Compared to 254 million registered vehicles, there are more than 270 million cell phone subscribers. Cell phone companies subtlety market hands-free cell phone use in cars. What is your incentive to text while driving?
• Running late?
• Responding to a text?
• Need GPS driving directions?
• Bored while driving somewhere?
• Tweeting to update your Facebook page?
The Gwent Police Department in Wales produced a 30-minute video entitled “COW — The Film That Will Stop You Texting and Driving,” for British high schoolers showing the consequences of texting while driving.
Too explicit to show on U.S. TV, this public service announcement has gone viral. More than 1.5 million people around the world have now viewed the film. Given the content of some reality shows, maybe this graphic, reality video needs to be aired in prime time. It’s hard hitting, but so are the real-life consequences of distracted driving. Is this PSA about texting while driving too graphic?
Are you aware of the driving-while-texting dangers? You may believe you can text responsibly while driving, but scientific evidence shows you cannot. Who should you trust? Yourself or the statistics?
18 sobering 'driven-to-distraction' statistics
1. The risk of crash or near crash event when text messaging is 23.2 times as high as non-distracted driving.
2. Texting while driving slows reaction time 35 percent - making it more dangerous than driving while high or drunk. Yet 48 percent drivers under 25 have done it.
3. Increases chances of having an accident by four times.
4. Up to a quarter of the estimated 40,000 vehicle fatalities in the U.S. annually may be traced back to distracted drivers texting.
5. An AAA reported that 95 percent of drivers polled acknowledge texting while driving is dangerous, 21 percent of them have done it recently anyway.
6. A recent study revealed texting and driving is actually more dangerous than drinking and driving since the reaction time for a texter was longer than for someone legally drunk at 0.08.
7. Despite the risks, the majority of teen drivers ignore cell phone driving restrictions.
8. In 2007, driver distractions, such as using a cell phone or text messaging, contributed to nearly 1,000 crashes involving 16- and 17-year-old drivers.
9. Over 60 percent of American teens admit to risky driving, and nearly half of those that admit to risky driving also admit to text messaging behind the wheel.
10. 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.
11. Almost 50% of all drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 are texting while driving.
12. Teens say that texting is their number one driver distraction.
13. One-fifth of experienced adult drivers in the United States send text messages while driving.
14. A study of dangerous driver behavior released in January 2007 by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. found that 19 percent of adult motorists say they text message while driving.
15. In 2002, the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis calculated that 2,600 people die each year as a result of using cellphones while driving. They estimated that another 330,000 are injured.
16. Eighty-four percent of cell phone users stated that they believe using a cell phone while driving increases the risk of being in an accident.
17. The majority of Americans believe that talking on the phone and texting are two of the the most dangerous behaviors that occur behind the wheel. Still, as many as 81% of drivers admit to making phone calls while driving.
18. Studies have found that texting while driving causes a 400 percent increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
For more information:
Multitaskers bad at multitasking
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