Distracted driving isn t new. The potential causes of distraction, however, have ballooned in the last few years to the point where legislatures have been forced to outlaw certain activities while driving a motor vehicle. One of those activities is texting. The reasons are fairly simple. Texting requires the driver to divert attention from the road and surrounding traffic. Occasionally, this results in collisions and injuries that likely wouldn t have happened otherwise. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Distracted driving accident in MA

More than a half-million drivers are trying to use their phone while driving right now. That s a lot of potential for accidents, and by the end of each year, distracted driving due to mobile phone use adds 1.6 million accidents to everyone s traffic hazards. Those accidents cause more than 300,000 injuries. In fact, one of every four accidents in the United States is caused by the driver being distracted by a mobile phone. It is six times more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk.

Text messages

There can be no doubt as to the justifications for most state legislatures passing laws against the use of phones while driving. Even carrying on a voice conversation can be problematic. Texting is practically guaranteed to be dangerous because it is impossible to read text messages and pay attention to the road at the same time.

Distraction

Consider this. At a speed of 55 miles per hour, being distracted for only five seconds means your car has traveled more than the length of a football field with your attention directed elsewhere. Considering more than a few roads, curves and intersections are constructed such that it is impossible to see what is that far ahead, there is almost no difference between doing this and driving while wearing a blindfold.

46 states banned texting while driving

Here s the most confusing part. Half of adult drivers admit to texting and driving. 98% claim to believe it s unsafe. 46 states have banned texting and driving, and considering the potential risks, it s safe to assume the rest will follow.

But the most important statistic of all is this: 100% of drivers who text while driving or are even distracted by a mobile device while driving have increased the possibility they and possibly many others will be involved in a destructive and potentially dangerous accident. If there is something that important happening on their phone, one hopes they would take a moment and just pull off the road. It will make things safer for everyone, including the texting driver.