According to a National Highway Transportation Safety Administration study conducted in 2012, texting while driving is more dangerous than driving while intoxicated.
To ensure that you fully understand how much of a risk this is, you don’t have to look any further than a test conducted by Car and Driver Magazine in 2009. The company setup a car that would alert drivers when to hit the brakes. From there, they tested how long it took the driver to make this decision when sober, drunk, reading an email, and sending a text message.
When driving a 70 miles per hour, the driver was slower to react when sending an email or texting. Here are the astonishing results, based on .54 seconds for an unimpaired driver to brake:
As you can see, drivers are slow to react when sending a text message or reading an email. Adding 70 feet before stopping could be the difference between staying safe and causing an accident.
The reason for this is that texting and driving involves three types of distracted driving:
In 2012 alone, approximately 1.6 million accidents were related to texting while driving. Furthermore, 11 teenagers died everyday as a result of this activity.
Texting while driving is the leading cause of death among teenage drivers. Unfortunately, many teens continue to take part in this activity, even though they are aware of the risks as well as the laws enforced in their state.
To ensure that you fully understand how much of a risk this is, you don’t have to look any further than a test conducted by Car and Driver Magazine in 2009. The company setup a car that would alert drivers when to hit the brakes. From there, they tested how long it took the driver to make this decision when sober, drunk, reading an email, and sending a text message.
When driving a 70 miles per hour, the driver was slower to react when sending an email or texting. Here are the astonishing results, based on .54 seconds for an unimpaired driver to brake:
- Sending a text: add 70 feet
- Reading an email: add 36 feet
- Legally drunk: add 4 feet
As you can see, drivers are slow to react when sending a text message or reading an email. Adding 70 feet before stopping could be the difference between staying safe and causing an accident.
The reason for this is that texting and driving involves three types of distracted driving:
- Manual distraction
- Visual distraction
- Mental distraction
In 2012 alone, approximately 1.6 million accidents were related to texting while driving. Furthermore, 11 teenagers died everyday as a result of this activity.
Texting while driving is the leading cause of death among teenage drivers. Unfortunately, many teens continue to take part in this activity, even though they are aware of the risks as well as the laws enforced in their state.