How Deadly is Driving While Texting?
New Upcoming #1 Killer Disease,
100% Preventable Deaths You and Your
Loved Ones Can and Must Stop!
by www.SixWise.com
Be honest with yourself… have you ever texted while driving? Or do you know anyone who has and does text while driving?
This article could easily save your and their lives!
Drivers using cell phones are 400% more likely to cause a crash than other drivers … and those using a cell phone to send text messages are 800% likelier to be involved in an accident, according to this revealing NYTimes.com video above. Numbers of deaths increase at the same rates.
Despite the obvious risks of driving while texting, fewer than 20 states prohibit the activity, and among those that do many impose only minor fines as a penalty. Other states only allow police officers to penalize a driver for texting if they have already been stopped for another reason, such as speeding.
Yet the research pouring in is showing that driving while testing may be just as dangerous as driving drunk, and stronger laws may be necessary to help stop this deadly, and alarmingly common, activity.
The little-realized scary difference between drunk drivers and “textracted” drivers is the number of everyday well-meaning people who text when they drive – yet do not see their behavior as dangerous and addictive or more deadly than drunk driving, which it has been statistically proven to be.
Just How Deadly is “Textracting”: Distracted Driving While Texting
The “text twist” may very well be the deadliest driving move on the planet. When you “text twist” you take your eyes off the road to look at a text message on your cell phone screen while driving, you’re placing 100% greater priority on your texting message, over that of your own life, the lives of those in your car or the lives of others driving around or toward you.
The “text twist” of fate is that texting drivers are simply rolling the dice each time they text and drive. If you’re textracted, you’re betting everyone’s lives if they like it or not. It’s a death-race of distractions risking what is most precious for all those who love you and those who love those you could kill in a split second of a text distraction.
In less than a second the driver ahead of you could slam on their brakes when you are looking down, or a child could run out in front of your car while you are texting, etc.
The texting distraction “text twist” of fate is what we call the 100% deadliest preventable behavior.
FACT: Textracting is 100% within your control that otherwise results you will have to live with the rest of your life “if” you kill someone and survive!
This deadly behavior, which we at SixWise have titled “Textracting,” is causing dramatically increasing numbers of deaths on everyone’s roadways, which are 100% preventable.
Remember the San Antonio bus driver who plowed into cars at a standstill? Or the deadly Metrolink commuter train crash in Los Angeles, whose engineer was also texting moments before the crash?
These “textracting” incidents are claiming innocent victims across the United States.
- In June 2007, five high school teenagers from a suburb outside of Rochester N.Y. were killed when the SUV driven by one of the friends struck a trailer-tractor that exploded into flames. Police found evidence that the teenage girl driving had been sending text messages right before the crash happened.
- In 2009, a trolley operator in Boston, Mass. rear-ended another trolley sending more than 40 passengers to the hospital. The trolley operator admitted he was texting his girlfriend at the time of the accident.
- Also in 2009, a 21-year-old woman from Northhamptonshire in the UK was jailed and given a three-year driving ban for killing another motorist while texting.
There are countless other deadly examples as well, beyond those that end up making headlines.
A survey by mobile application vendor Vlingo found that 26 percent of mobile phone users admit to “driving while texting” (DWT). In some states, the numbers are as high as 42 percent. Likewise, nearly 60 percent of people ages 16 o 19, and 49 percent of those in their 20s, say they text while driving.
"In just one year, the public conversation about the issue of DWT has escalated, particularly in the wake of some high-profile accidents," Dave Grannan, CEO of Vlingo, told CNET News. "Texting is such an integral component of our daily lives, and the cautionary tales about DWT danger have not stemmed the tide. We predicted last year that this problem would get worse, and it has since more people are texting."
It’s a concerning trend, considering a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that people who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash than non-distracted drivers.
The study found that texting caused a driver to look away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds before a crash or near-crash, which researchers noted was enough time to travel the length of a football field if you’re traveling at 55 mph.
Talking on a cell phone, while also a distraction, increased the risk of an accident by 1.3 times, for comparison.
In all, a study reported on Oprah.com found 71 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 49 admit to texting or talking on the phone while driving.
Distracted Drivers, Deadly Accidents [VIDEO]
Why Isn’t Texting While Driving Illegal?
In some cases, DWT actually is illegal. So far 19 states have banned the practice, and the federal government banned truckers and bus drivers from sending text messages while behind the wheel in January 2010. President Obama also banned federal employees from DWT in late 2009.
However, a new study from the Highway Loss Data Institute found that cell phone driving bans may not go far enough to prevent crashes. Upon comparing collisions of 100 vehicles per year in four jurisdictions both before and after bans on handheld cell phone use took place, researchers found crash rates did not change.
One possible reason for lack of improvements may be that drivers are simply switching over to hands-free phone use, which studies have found may be nearly as dangerous as handheld phone use.
"Whatever the reason, the key finding is that crashes aren't going down where hand-held phone use has been banned,” Institute President Adrian Lund told CNN. "This finding doesn't augur well for any safety payoff from all the new laws that ban phone use and texting while driving."
DWT Deaths are 100 Percent Preventable!
“Textractions,” including talking, texting and emailing while driving, injure nearly 500,000 people and kill another 6,000 every year, according to Oprah.com. Every one of these deaths and injuries are 100 percent preventable simply by giving your full attention to the road.
In many instances, DWT is a deadly multi-tasking distraction.
Texting involves a dualistic form of multi-tasking requiring both physical and cognitive abilities. The physical distraction involves the holding of the cell phone and the cognitive requires visual comprehension to read and send text messages.
The end results are a delayed reaction time and inability to give full attention to the driving situation. An when you’re traveling at speeds of 55 mph or more, you can lose control of a situation in the blink of an eye. Remember, it takes just several seconds to cover the length of a football field at 55 mph!
If you notice another vehicle swerving, crossing over the center or lane lines on the road, fluctuating in speed erratically, or coming to abrupt stops and near-misses with other cars, maneuver your vehicle as far away as possible as these are signs of texting while driving.
And for your own safety and the safety of others on the road, enact a personal DWT ban for yourself and your family. Do not use your cell phone while in your car, whether it’s hands-free or hand-held, to talk or to text. The risk is simply too great, and no life is worth sacrificing over a phone call or text message.
Recommended Reading
Driving While Texting: How Dangerous is it … and is it Illegal?
Warning: This Video Can Stop Teens From Texting While Driving
Sources
CNN.com January 29, 2010
NYTimes.com October 1, 2009
NYTimes.com September 15, 2009
CNET News July 27, 2009
CNET News May 20, 2009
BBC News February 2, 2009
Oprah.com January 15, 2010