What is causing 6000 +Deaths a year in vehicle accidents?
According to the Department of Transportation cell phones are involved in 1.6 million accidents a year, causing half a million injuries and 6,000 deaths.
Some studies have suggested that texting or talking on a cell phone while driving is worse than driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, because your mind is preoccupied with a conversation. However, cell phones can actually be an important part of road safety. If you’re driving down a road, run into trouble or witness an accident (such as I did) a cell phone can be an invaluable tool. In my opinion, it’s really a simple matter of knowing when and when not to use it.
Consider these statistics conducted in a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI):
• Of all cell phone related tasks – including talking, dialing, or reaching for the phone – texting while driving is the most dangerous.
• One-fifth of experienced adult drivers in the United States send text messages while driving.
• Texting while driving is about 6 times more likely to result in an accident than driving while intoxicated.
• Studies have found that texting while driving causes a 400% increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
• For every 6 seconds of drive time, a driver sending or receiving a text message spends 4.6 of those seconds with their eyes off the road. This makes texting the most distracting of all cell phone related tasks.
