Driving and Cellphone Use

Probability and statistics can help a person be more informed about situations they usually neglect. Probability and statistics can be enough to save a life, a child, a family, or even a nation. Let’s use statistics and probability to help us take a better look at what really happens to people when they text while they drive.

The Truth

Texting while driving has become one of the most dangerous habits that has turned into a national epidemic. It quickly became one of the country’s top killers. Drivers assume they can handle texting while driving and remain safe, but the numbers don’t lie.

 Texting While Driving Causes:

1. 1,600,000 accidents per year – National Safety Council

 2. 330,000 injuries per year – Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study

 3. 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY – Ins. Institute for Hwy Safety Fatality Facts

 4. Nearly 25% of ALL car accidents

 

Texting While Driving Is:

1. About 6 times more likely to cause an accident than driving intoxicated

 2. The same as driving after 4 beers – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin.

 3. The number one driving distraction reported by teen drivers

 

Texting While Driving:

1. Makes you 23X more likely to crash – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin.

 2. Is the same as driving blind for 5 seconds at a time – VA. Tech Transportation Institute

 3. Takes place by 800,000 drivers at any given time across the country

 4. Slows your brake reaction speed by 18% – Human Factors & Ergonomics Society

 5. Leads to a 400% increase with eyes off the road

Deaths caused by people texting while driving has become dangerously high, especially now that this world is consumed with gadgets, smart phones, and cell phones.

Cell phone use - especially texting - has become so ingrained in society that far too many people ignore laws banning the practice. A 2008 study by the mobile industry’s trade association CTIA found that among teens ages 13-19, 57% view their cell phones as key to their social life, and most view texting as a vital feature.

But teens are not the only ones to be blamed doing this act. According to a Pew Research study, adult drivers are text messaging while driving too. Compare the following statistics for teenage drivers and adult drivers:

 

Teens and Cell Phones:

75% of American teenagers own cellphones and 66% of these teens text message.

82% of teens between 16 and 17 have a cell phone.

34% of teens who text message admit to texting while driving.

48% of teens say they have been a passenger in a car whose driver was texting.

 

Adults and Cell Phones:

 82% of adults have cell phones.

47% of adult cell phone users report texting while driving.

27% of all adults report texting while driving.

49% of adults report they have been a passenger in a car when the driver was texting.

44% of adult report they have used a cell phone in a car in a manner that puts themselves or others at danger.

17% of adults report bumping into something while driving when using a cell phone.

 

But even without the statistics and the facts, driving while texting has always and will always be a risk made that can cost permanent situations; that includes death.

Patrols showing that talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel is the leading factor contributing to crashes blamed on inattentive drivers. Furthermore, in the US, there are reports that distracted driving played a role in nearly 6,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries in 2009.

Physiologically, there are three different kinds of distraction, say experts: visual (taking eyes off the road), manual (taking one or more hands off the wheel), and cognitive (mental attention.) Texting involves all three, which a July 2009 study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute shows increases the risk of a crash 23.2 times higher than non-distracted driving – higher than driving while intoxicated.

 

How Do We Solve This?

 One of the key of reversing this horrible trend is awareness. Statistics, probabilities, and facts are used for further awareness and education about the situation. The more people knows what’s really happening, the more they’ll be able to think twice about the habits they’ve accustomed to do.

Statistics and probabilities can change and even save lives for the better. Information is important and should be used for the greater good of this country and the next.