Claimstrainer Blog

 

Distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 3,166 lives in 2017 alone. Texting on the road and the Dangers of Distracted Driving is a major problem.

Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system—anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving.

Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.
You cannot drive safely unless the task of driving has your full attention. Any non-driving activity you engage in is a potential distraction and increases your risk of crashing.

Every day, at least nine Americans die and 100 are injured in distracted driving crashes. Cell phones, dashboard touchscreens, voice commands and other in-vehicle technologies pose a threat to our safety. Consequences of those distractions are not worth the convenience they offer. Ignore the distractions and #justdrive.
Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April is a united effort to recognize the dangers of and eliminate preventable deaths from distracted driving. Join us to help save lives.
 

In addition to the internet, there is the fact that we have mobile technology for everyone now. Back in the day, having a wired phone was a massive deal. Now, even homeless people have cell phones. One of the cardinal rules of driving a vehicle anywhere in the world is to keep both hands on the wheel.

However, people are now so used to mobile phones that they think that they can drive while using them. It doesn’t matter how mad you think your driving skills are, you still can’t text while driving. Unless you are capable of seeing and concentrating on two separate things with equal intensity, of course. This isn’t humanly possible, so you can put that thought away.

From texting to calling to using mobile navigation systems, people are always finding ways to use their mobile phones. It almost feels like they just can’t keep their paws off those screens, not even for the time it takes to drive from point A to point B every day.

Texting while driving is an epidemic, and it must be cured before it is too late to do anything about it. In fact, the use of mobile phones in vehicles has to be banned too. There are already a lot of states in the US that have laws against the use of cell phones and texting in the vehicle.

General Cell Phone Statistics

• The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.
• Nearly 390,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving.
• 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.
• Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk.
• Answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that's enough time to travel the length of a football field.
• Texting while driving causes a 400 percent increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
• Of all cell phone related tasks, texting is by far the most dangerous activity.
• 94 percent of drivers support a ban on texting while driving.
• 74 percent of drivers support a ban on hand-held cell phone use.

By understanding how deadly and dangerous texting and driving is, we can help prevent future generations from participating in this detrimental activity.

Currently there is no national ban on texting or using a wireless phone while driving, but a number of states have passed laws banning texting or wireless phones or requiring hands-free use of wireless phones while driving.