Jump to the Texting and Driving Infographic
Every split second you spend with your eyes on the phone instead of on the road puts yourself and everyone around you in immediate jeopardy.
But don’t take our word for it. Look at the facts. These numbers don’t lie, and the story they tell is a bleak one:
Just how bad is the texting and driving problem?
Although fatal crashes are the worst-case scenario, they represent just a fraction of the full – and astronomical – impact of texting and driving.
The fatal crash numbers don’t count the victims who survive but whose lives are changed forever: the ones whose broken legs will bother them every time it rains for the rest of their lives, the ones whose severe injuries force them to relearn how to speak and how to walk, and the ones who are permanently paralyzed.
Yet the immense stakes don’t dissuade motorists from texting and driving. Distracted driving has become so prevalent in the United States that the phenomenon has been named an epidemic.
Unfortunately, most people think they can text and drive – even if they recognize that other people can’t.
Just how many people are blind to their own distracted driving problems?
What makes even people who know that texting and driving is dangerous so sure that they are invincible? Sure, everyone likes to think they are a good driver, even as they complain about the “crazies” out there on the road. But the reality is that scientists have proven, again and again, that there’s no such thing as “safely” texting and driving.
It’s physiologically impossible to be good at driving if you’re not looking at, and paying full attention to, the road. During what may seem like “just a second” looking at your phone, you can easily travel a quarter of the length of a football field blind because you took your eyes off the road.
A lot could happen in that single second. An animal could cross the road, a child could chase a ball out into traffic, the wind could blow a garbage can into your path, a car up ahead could stall. And, with your eyes on a text message instead of the road, you’d have no time to react and prevent a catastrophic crash.
The solution is simple – put the phone down. But too many drivers just don’t think their text messages can wait.
But is a text message ever really important enough to risk your life and the lives of others around you? Can’t your boss or your coworker wait until you get home or find a safe place to pull over? Won’t your friend understand if you don’t respond immediately because you were on the road?
If you struck another car and killed an innocent person because you picked up your phone to check a text message, is there anything on the screen that would make you feel better about watching, say, a parent desperately trying to reach an unresponsive infant in a car seat or frantically performing CPR on a preschooler?
Statistically speaking, many passengers text behind the wheel themselves when they drive. But as a passenger, they tend to view driver distraction more critically.
Maybe it’s that (ridiculously inaccurate) bias that other people are worse at texting and driving that really makes the danger hit home when our lives are in someone else’s distracted hands.
Texting and driving accidents are preventable. Every single one of them.
There are many ways to approach reducing the number of texting and driving accidents. But a multifaceted solution, including technological, legislative, and educational efforts, may well prove to be the most effective.
Increases in technological innovation allow for new ways to prevent phone use while driving.
Changing the law could result in a drop in distracted driving rates..
Ultimately, the decision to text and drive comes down to the individual. Educating the youth is critical in reducing texting and driving rates.
In today’s fast-paced world, there’s so much pressure to respond immediately to every message or notification that we often pick up the phone out of habit.
It’s a less than ideal habit even when you’re not behind the wheel, but when driving, this behavior poses a real physical health risk to everyone on the road.
If you’re guilty of texting while driving, there’s no better time to start breaking this habit than right now. (It might just save your life!) Here are some ways to help yourself avoid reaching for the phone when your eyes should be on the road and your hands should be on the wheel.
Sometimes the worst thing happens and you’ve found yourself injured in a car accident because someone else was too distracted by their phone. Whether you were the passenger of the at-fault driver or the other driver was at fault, you are now dealing with the devastating aftermath of a car crash: painful injuries, mounting medical bills and insurance adjusters clamoring for a quick settlement for a fraction of what you really need. We’re here to help you navigate the situation and get you the care and compensation you deserve for your injuries. Call our car accident attorneys to get your questions answered, and rest assured that if you have a case, you’ll pay no fees out of pocket. Our No Fee Promise means we don’t get paid until we win for you.
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