Ever text messaged someone while you were driving? If you answered yes, you will want to continue reading for some amazing statistics! A study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that texting while driving increased a person’s chance to being involved in a collision by 20 times.
Of the different cell phone related tasks, text messaging kept a person’s eyes off the road the longest (4.6 seconds). Virginia Tech estimated that this was equivalent to someone driving the length of an entire football field at 55 miles per hour without looking!
The Queen of Daytime TV, Oprah Winfrey, has focused a lot of attention on this problem and is spearheading a national campaign to get people to not only stop texting while driving, but to also not use the phone while driving. This includes hands free devices. Read about the campaign and some of the people whose lives have been affected by driving distractions.
Currently, there is sparse legislation regarding texting while driving. Some states have laws in place only for new, teenage drivers. Effective December 1, 2010, texting while driving will be against the law in Wisconsin for all drivers. (Section 346.89(3) Wis. Stats) Do you know if the law prohibits texting while driving in your state? For a state by state list of bans, visit the Governor’s Highway Safety Association.
For more information about the dangers of distracted driving and what you can do to help, check out distraction.gov from the U.S. Department of Transportation and FocusDriven, a non-profit advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using cell phones.
I hope today’s blog helped you consider safer driving like it did for me. I know I won’t be texting and driving! What’s your take on texting and driving? Do you have any suggestions on breaking the habit? Please leave your comments below, I look forward to hearing from you!
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