November 13, 2009
AAA RELEASES NEW DATA ON DANGERS OF TEXTING AND DRIVING
A report from AAA released recently reveals how dangerous it is to text while driving. Nearly one out of five U.S. drivers surveyed has read or sent a text message while behind the wheel, even though nearly all of the respondents in the AAA survey considered such an action unacceptable. AAA Chief Executive Robert Darbelnet, in a statement accompanying the survey, commissioned by the AAA Foundation observed:
the new technologies that helps us multitask in our lives and increasingly popular social media sites present a hard-to-resist challenge to the typically safe driver. Enacting texting bans for drivers in all 50 states can halt the spread of this dangerous practice nationwide and is a key legislative priority for AAA.
18% said they had sent a text message while driving within a month of being surveyed. In a survey commissioned by Ford Motor Co. it was reported that 93% of 1,000 licensed drivers supported a nationwide ban on texting while behind the wheel.
58,790 people were killed and 515,000 injured lst year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction. Driver distraction was involved in 16% of all fatal crashes in 2008. The greatest proportion of distracted drivers were those age 20 and under.
The National Safety Council wants a total ban on cell phone use while driving. Other groups have focused on texting, which has grown from nearly 10 billion messages a month in December 2005 to more than 110 billion in December 2008.
Source: Insurance Journal
May 22, 2009
UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF TEXTING
According to AAA and Seventeen Magazine 46% of 1000 teenagers polled said they text-message while driving. 51% said they talk on their cell phones while driving.
“Adults with their blackberries also text-message while driving. This is one of the biggest challenges facing drivers today is distractions,” comments spokesperson for AAA. “The next generation of drivers is doing it and do not think twice about the consequences it could cause.”
Almost 70% of American cell phone users send at least one text a day. Texting statistics done by livescience.com show that 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries are caused by cell phone distraction in the U.S. everyday. These numbers are probably on the conservative side, as mobile phone usage is on the rise. Five people a day die from cell phone distractions.
Everyone seems to agree, even those in the wireless industry that the buzz of ones PDA or cell phone shouldn’t be answered in the car. But we still check to see who it is and important or not send a response.
Studies show that text-messaging distractions are like being drunk while driving, cutting down attention and ability to react to dangerious situations. Distractions have been around as long as their has been cars. The most common driving distraction is day dreaming,texting or talking on the phone, fixing hair, comforting or disciplining children and eating.
