Happy Halloween.
What’s the scariest thing you might see on the highway today? Zombies, vampires, the devil, Angry Birds? Not for me. The most terrifying thing for me is actually distracted driving – it plays a big part in a number of auto accidents on the road today.
- 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA).
- Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA)
- In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES)
- The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA)
- Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)
If you are involved in an auto accident and you believe that the other driver was distracted by a cell phone or other reason, it is important to report this to the police and your insurance company. Bottom line, don’t drive and text, email, read, or do anything that can distract you from your number one priority…driving!
