The statistics alone should startle you into submission. Whether you are a driver, spouse, parent, grandparent, or friend – texting while driving, no matter how good you think you are at it, or how lucky you have been — is equivalent to vehicular suicide just biding its time.
In 2012, 3,328 people were killed in auto accidents that involved a distracted driver. This compared to 3,360 deaths in 2011*.
And those are the ones who died. Not the 421,000 people who were injured – a 9% increase from the 387,000 people injured in 2011.
Still need convincing? Take a look at some more statistics*:
- More than 50 percent of teens admit to texting while driving
- More than 3,000 teens die each year in crashes caused by texting while driving
- In 2011, nearly one in five crashes (17%) where someone was injured involved distracted driving.
- In December 2012, more than 171 billion text messages were sent or received in the United States alone.
“Cell phones are a distraction and could be a contributing factor in this accident,” Ontario County Sheriff Phillip Povero said about the teen car crash that killed five cheerleaders in western New York, as they went out to celebrate their graduation last year.
Cell phone records had shown that a text message was sent from the phone belonging to the driver and a response was sent to her phone thirty-eight seconds before someone called 911 to report the accident that killed her and her friends.
And with so many new and inexperienced drivers on the road each year, this is especially troubling.
Enough is enough, don’t you think?
Read more and watch the video at EURThisNthat.
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