The Dangers of Texting and Driving

Just a few short years ago, the phrase TEXTING AND DRIVING would have had absolutely no meaning to anyone. Cell phones are still a relatively new invention and the act of texting as much as we all do now, an even newer phenomenon. Many young people today text as their primary source of communication while hardly ever actually talking on their phones. This practice, coupled with driving, has created the dangerous combination known as texting and driving.

Most people feel very comfortable driving and it is something we do without even having to think much about it. Because of this, many people often do other things while driving including eating, changing radio stations, talking on the phone and even texting. Texting is possibly the most dangerous of the activities performed while driving and proving to be the cause of an increasing number of automobile accidents.

Here are just a few statistics that help highlight this issue:

• 400% – This number represents the percentage increase of the time in which a driver’s eyes are off the road when they are texting, vs. when they are driving without texting. Obviously, the more time spent with your eyes NOT on the road, the greater the chances an accident will occur. 

• 5 seconds – This is the average amount of time someone takes their eyes of the road while texting. It may not sound like a lot of time, but when considering that your car will travel the length of an entire football field in 5 seconds while driving 55 miles per hour, you can begin to see just how scary these 5 seconds can be…

• 10% – a recent study involving teen drivers proved that while texting, they end up veering out of their lane a total of 10% of their driving time. 
• 23 times – When you text while driving, you are 23 times more likely to be involved in an automobile accident.

When behind the wheel of an automobile, your attention should be 100% focused on driving and nothing else. But as we are seeing with the increased number of accidents involving texting and driving, this is certainly not always the case. Because of the way the brain functions, when someone is texting, their complete attention switches from driving to this other task and this can result in horrifying consequences. 

If you are involved in an accident and you noticed the person who caused it was texting before it occurred, this should be reported to the police and your insurance company immediately. In addition, you would be wise to secure the services of a law firm who has experience in dealing with these types of cases. While many states now have laws preventing texting while driving, it can still be tough to prove after an accident occurs. An experienced lawyer can subpoena the phone records of the other party to possibly prove that texting and driving was in fact the cause of the accident.