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Dangers Of Distracted Driving

Distracted driving is a leading cause of car crashes, with more than 15 people being killed and more than 1,200 people being injured every day due to an entirely preventable situation. When drivers are distracted, it means they are engaged in an activity that is taking their attention away from the responsibilities of operating their vehicles. Some of the most common distracting activities that people engage in while driving include eating, reading, grooming, adjusting the radio, interacting with passengers and using a cell phone.

The increased popularity of cell phones allows people to have easier and more convenient access to information, directions and assistance while they’re on the go. However, these benefits come along with a very significant and sometimes deadly cost. In 2009, almost 1,000 deaths and 24,000 injuries were caused by car crashes that involved cell phones as the driver’s primary distraction.

The Types of Driving Distractions

The Dangers of Texting While Driving

In addition to causing multiple types of distractions, the act of typing a message into a phone or reading a message also pulls a driver’s attention away from the road for longer periods of time than many other activities. It’s estimated that sending or receiving a single text will take a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds on average. For a driver going 55 miles per hour, that’s enough time to drive the length of a football field.

Texting while driving has been shown to make drivers 23 times more likely to get into a crash than if they were driving normally. Many people who regularly send or read text messages while driving don’t know how dangerous it can be until they actually experience an automobile accident while they’re texting. At that point it can often be too late, as many drivers have caused serious injuries or deaths simply because they wanted to send or read a message on their phones.

Distractions Are A Greater Risk for Young Drivers

Car accidents are the number one cause of death for teenagers in this country, with more than 15,000 teens dying from car crash related injuries in 2009. In addition to the other risks young drivers face while on the road, they are also the most likely to text while they’re behind the wheel. Studies have shown that about 9% of U.S. drivers admit to texting or emailing regularly while they’re driving. The numbers of 18-year-olds to 29-years-olds who gave this answer is alarmingly high, with more than a fourth of them reporting that they text fairly often while they drive.

A recent study showed that 75% of teens said that texting and driving is a common occurrence amount their friends, and 77% saying that they have witnessed their parents texting while driving. Many organizations encourage parents and other role models never to text in front of their children to help stop children from becoming used to viewing it as an acceptable behavior.

Michigan Laws and Penalties For Texting While Driving

A study conducted by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning showed that 96% of drivers in Michigan felt that people who text or email while driving are more likely to be in an car accident. A whopping 42% of drivers surveyed in Michigan believed that texting while driving is as dangerous as drunk driving. In spite of these responses, 8.2% of the same people surveyed said that they text and send emails while driving.

Fortunately, the state of Michigan, along with many other states, has banned people from texting while they drive. Drivers who are found texting are subject to a $100 fine for their first offense and a $200 fine for their second offense. In certain municipalities in the state, all cell phone use is prohibited.

Measures to Stop Texting While Driving

Government officials, law officials and organizations are working together to create more effective methods of prevention and education that can hopefully stop drivers from pulling out their cell phones while they’re at the wheel. Two of these organizations are It Can Wait and No Phone Zone, both of which encourages teens and adults to sign pledges promising never to text to never use a cell phone at all while operating their vehicles. A scholarship fund called Project Yellow Light holds a nationwide contest encouraging students to create videos about the dangers of texting while driving.

The Department of Transportation is working to help all 50 states ban texting while driving and to strictly enforce the law. They are also encouraging automakers to invest in new technological advances that will reduce the incidences of distracted driving. Finally, they are working with numerous organizations to educate more and more people—and teens in particular—about how serious and dangerous texting and driving is.

To make more efforts to stop texting and driving in Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder—along with other governors across the country—declared that September 19th would officially be “Don’t Text and Drive Day.”

Finding Out if You’re Eligible for Compensation
If you or someone in your family has been a victim of an accident caused by driver who was texting, it’s always a good idea have a knowledgeable accident attorney on your side who can evaluate the details of your particular situation and determine whether you are owed a settlement for your suffering. Contact our offices to immediately get in touch with someone can help you make sure that you are fairly compensated for the pain caused by a driver’s careless distraction.

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