We have all seen it on the news or in the papers about how dangerous texting and driving is. Legislators certainly have since all over the country they are passing legislation banning the use of cell phones in the car without the aid of a hands free headset or other device. Yet people keep on getting into serious car accidents because of them.
It’s not just talking, but texting and a lot of the texting is being done by persons under 30 years old. In fact, traffic accidents are currently the leading cause of teenager deaths in the U.S., with one in three teen deaths occurring on the road. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), drivers aged 15-24 account for $26 billion in vehicle injuries, almost 30% of overall costs from car injuries in the U.S. Only about 14% of drivers are aged 15-24.
Many of these injuries and fatalities are largely preventable by simply informing people, particularly young people, about the serious dangers of texting while driving.
Why Texting and Driving is Dangerous
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, distracted driving injured almost half a million people in 2009, and killed nearly 5,500. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that dialing a phone makes it 6x more likely to get into an accident, while texting while driving multiplies the chance of an accident by 23x.
One Handed Driving – Though one handed driving is not inherently dangerous since people who drive automatics almost exclusively drive with one hand, the difference is that they are concentrating on driving and don’t have to drop anything to use both hands to react to hazardous situations.
Multitasking – There are thousands of people that will tell you that they are master multitaskers and they can easily split their attention in many directions. Don’t believe them. Studies have shown that if you do two or more things at the same time that you are doing none of the things well and miss most of the important details.
Typing – Typing a text into a phone with two hands and nothing else to do takes an experienced texter less than 5 seconds. Typing a simple text with one hand while driving takes about minute, which is more time than it takes to crash and have a bystander call 911 to have authorities come and pull you from the burning wreckage.
Drift – This what happens when someone isn’t paying attention. The car drifts either to the shoulder where they hit the curb or become intimate with a tree (or worse, a pedestrian) or they drift the other direction into oncoming traffic causing a potentially fatal head on collision.
Texting Studies
Consumer Reports just released a study in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as part of a joint public services campaign around texting and driving. The campaign aims to bring awareness of the dangers of distracted driving to young people.
It was a phone survey asking people under the age of 30 about their mobile device use when they drive. Of those surveyed, they found:
- 63% used a handheld cell phone while driving in the past 30 days
- 30% texted while driving in the past 30 days
- 36% were very concerned with distracted driving, and even fewer
- 30% thought using a cell phone while driving was very dangerous
- 58% saw a dangerous situation because of distracted driving in the last 30 days.
Enforcement of Texting
There has not been a national standard set by law makers regarding the use of cell phones and texting while driving, instead choosing to leave it ups to the states to make up their own rules on what they think is appropriate for their area. Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary and head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has voiced deep concern for cell phone use and texting while driving and has banned texting by commercial truck drivers.
Currently 30 states have a law on the books banning texting while driving. In some states the law is primary, which means that a driver texting can be pulled over for that reason alone. But in some states, the law is secondary, meaning the driver must be doing something else illegal before being pulled over.
In Washington State the law is a little more up for interpretation. The police can choose to pull a driver over strictly for using their cell phones or texting, but the overall policy is to only charge someone a ticket if it contributes to an accident. This policy takes prevention out of the equation.
It is also extremely hard to catch someone texting. They naturally hold their phone down to text in order to reduce glare and cradle the phone in their hand. Looking down on the floor of your vehicle is not against the law, but not paying attention and driving recklessly is, so most police officers will pull over a texter if they are swerving.
Seattle Car Accident Lawyer
Texting while driving is easily one of the most dangerous things a person can do in a vehicle. Some studies have shown that texting makes a person drive as if they are twice the legal drinking limit of .08. This makes people swerve, drift, and otherwise put all other cars on the road around them dangerous. Please don’t text while driving, if not for yourself, then for everyone else.
If you or someone you know has suffered a serious personal injury after getting into a car accident with a distracted driver, then you need skilled legal council to represent you to assure that you get the compensation you deserve. Call the Seattle car accident lawyers at Phillips Webster for a free consultation.
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