7 Facts About Texting and Driving You Need to Know
You’ve probably seen it all-too-frequently, even in your own neighborhood: you stop at a light or pass someone on the highway and catch a glimpse of the driver next to you who is…staring down at their phone. It’s never a good look. People wrongly think that looking away for just a quick second to read or send a message is harmless — after all, it’s only a few seconds! Well, a lot can happen in those few seconds, so hopefully these essential facts about texting and driving will show you just how dangerous it is. You are not “better” at “getting away with it” than other, less fortunate drivers. After all, there’s a good reason why 43 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands have all outlawed it.
- On average, 15.2 million text messages are sent per minute, worldwide.
- A survey in 2019 suggested that 36% of respondents age 18-24 admit to having texting while driving — 51% of those said they were very familiar with their state’s texting and driving laws.
- Reading a text distracts the driver for 4-5 seconds, on average. If traveling at 55mph, this means the driver travels the length of a football field while looking away from the road. Even at average neighborhood speeds of 25mph, it is more than enough time to drive up somebody’s lawn or miss a spontaneous obstacle in the road.
- Eighteen percent of fatal crashes involve texting and driving.
- Around 9 people are killed and over 1,000 are injured on a daily basis in the US because of a distracted driver, according to the CDC.
- Teenagers were the largest age group to be reported as distracted in a recent survey by the US Department of Transportation.
- Nine in 10 teens expect a reply to a text within 5 minutes or less. In many cases, this makes them feel obligated to read and answer messages immediately, even while driving.
The Hard Facts About Texting and Driving
When you text and drive, you’re not just taking your own life into your hands, but also the lives of those around you. You are unfairly putting people at risk because you think your conversation can’t be put on hold for just a few minutes. There is plenty of time to text, tweet and send memes to friends during the hours of the day you are NOT behind the wheel.