Texting and driving is dangerous just like drinking and driving. Compare the texting while driving statistics below to the drinking and driving statistics, road rage statistics, eating while driving statistics, & more. There is no doubt that text messaging while driving is convenient but as the texting while driving statistics show in the graphic below – do you really want to run the risk? Check out the dangerous driving statistics below and then be sure to enter your zip code in above for free car insurance quotes online!
Driving Hazards Every Driver Should Be Aware Of
Driving is an American institution. Our cities and towns have been redesigned and evolved to fit the needs of the automobile, not the human. While more and more people are embracing mass transit, walking and bikes, the majority of us still find ourselves in a car on a regular basis. If not every day, then several times per week we get into a vehicle for business or pleasure. We can be the driver or a passenger (or just luggage!) – either way, whenever we are on the road, we are at risk for an accident.
Modern technology like cell phones, GPS systems, and dashboard computers have made being on the road more convenient, but they don’t seem to have made it any safer. We are an increasingly stressed out, get-it-done-yesterday-and-get-out-of-my-way society. Being on the road is somewhere between an endurance test and a survival course. But knowing what you are up against every time you hit the blacktop can help prepare you for the rigors of the road.
Cell Phones are Not for the Road
Most Americans have a cell phone of some kind and they are becoming increasingly complex, complicated, and useful. The best thing about cell phones is that stranded motorists can call for help from anywhere. The worst thing about cell phones is that they are increasingly making our drives more dangerous. Cell phone-related accidents are responsible for almost 25,000 injuries per year, and almost 1000 deaths! That’s right, cell phone + car = dead. That’s math we can all do (but your cell phone probably has a calculator built into it somewhere).
Talking on a cell phone is bad enough, even with a hands-free device, but far too often people are now texting while they drive. Texting is more dangerous than drunk driving in every possible way. A drunk driver is 4 times more likely to crash than someone who hasn’t been drinking, but even a sober driver who is texting is 8 times more likely to get into an accident! This is because, while a drunk driver needs an extra 4 feet to come to a stop to avoid an accident, a texting drivers need an extra 70 feet. Good luck finding that much room in the city or even on the highway!
What makes these cell phone texting and driving statistics even more chilling is that 21% of ALL DRIVERS admit to texting while the are driving. Even worse, of teenagers – the most accident-prone group of drivers and the ones with the least experience (usually) – 46% say that they text while driving. That’s about one out of every two (in case you wanted some help with the odds there).
Weather Can be as Dangerous as it is Unpredictable
Teenagers with cell phones are not the most dangerous thing you’ll be up against out there on the road. Bad weather is probably responsible for most traffic accidents, based on the 1,500,000+ weather related accidents that are reported every year. It’s likely that the weather is responsible for most accidents because that more than 1.5 million accidents isn’t even HALF of the total projected number of weather-related accidents. Even that fraction that is reported account for 673,000 injuries and 7,400 deaths, which means that the reality is much more severe.
Beware of Drinking and Driving
Alcohol kills. I don’t say that to bum you out, just to state a fact. Too much of it will kill brain cells, your liver, and eventually is so toxic inside your system that you keel over and die. But mixing it with other things will also kill you: drug/alcohol interaction claims lives every year. Mixing alcohol and your car is also deadly. 10,839 people die from drunk driving accidents every year and 100% of those deaths are preventable. If you average out that number, it equates to one drunk driving death every 50 minutes. In the time you enjoy a two hour movie (with previews) two people are definitely dead, with a third on the way. The cure to drunk driving is simply not doing it. The nationwide organization MADD – Mothers Against Drunk Driving – has made it their goal to eliminate drunk driving. With the 3 or more youths that die every day, it’s easy to see why. Deaths from accidents associated with drinking and driving make up 32% of all traffic deaths.
Unintended Acceleration is Not Just a Myth
Unintended acceleration is the industry term for when a vehicle malfunctions in such a way so as to cause it to speed up uncontrollably and without the driver’s consent. These are almost always due to a defect which the manufacturer missed during testing and/or manufacturing and often result in massive recalls for repairs (at the company’s expense). However, the company cannot make up for the 2000 accidents that unintended acceleration causes every year, or bring back the 32 people who have died since 2001.
How You Could Be Affected Financially
But what’s the net effect of all these driving hazards? Well other than the pain, suffering, and anguish of accident victims and their families, the national average for an auto insurance policy is just shy of $1,600 per year. 40% of this money goes right to liability coverage. That’s good, because 1/6 of all drivers don’t have auto insurance of any kind – which is not only foolish, but illegal.
For those of us who are insured, avoiding accidents is the only way to keep rates manageable as even one accident boosts your premium by about 10%, subsequent accidents quickly mount to 30, 50 and then eventually almost doubling your costs by your third accident.
Why not make sure you have adequate car insurance coverage AND save some money at the same time? Enter your zip code in right now for free auto insurance rate quotes online!
