Texting while driving disorients a driver visually, mentally, and cognitively, and slows their reaction speeds. Consequently, thousands of people die or get injured every year on American roads, due to accidents caused by texting and driving. To further put things into perspective, below are some key statistics regarding texting and driving accidents in the year 2018.
Analysis of Texting and Driving Accidents Statistics
According to research conducted by TeenSafe:
- More than 58% of all car crashes involving teens are caused by distracted driving. Statistically, we lose 11 teenagers every day in texting and driving accidents.
- In 2018, texting and driving accidents made up 25% of all car accidents in the US. In figures, this totals to 1.5 million accidents.
- Studies show that teenagers who text while driving are more likely to veer out of their lanes.
- Texting and driving also resulted in 398,000 accidents in 2018.
- Texting while driving is 6 times more likely to cause accidents than drunk driving.
- An estimated 650,000 drivers, most of them teens, use their phones while on the road every day.
- About a quarter of all teen drivers admit to texting at least once when driving.
- About 25% of accidents relating to texting and driving occur in the afternoon peak hours – between 3 to 6 pm.
- Female drivers are more likely to cause texting and driving accidents compared to male drivers.
- Compared to adults, teen drivers aged between 16 to 19 years are 3 times more likely to cause accidents when using their phones on the road.
As if the above statistics are not grim enough, TeenSafe further found out that about 55% of teen drivers believe they can easily and safely manage driving while texting. This is even worse among adult drivers, where 77% think they can smoothly drive when driving. With such kind of attitude across the board, it is no surprise then that the number of accidents caused by distracted drivers keeps increasing every year.
Additional Data
Concerned about the rise in distracted driving incidents, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been collecting data on the same. The results show that texting is the most common distraction on the roads, and also the most dangerous. They further opine that reading a short text while on the wheel distracts one’s mental and physical senses for about 5 seconds. This is equivalent to the time it takes to drive across a football field at a speed of 55 mph!
The National Safety Council (an organization dealing with road safety) is concerned that texting and driving accidents may be hard to stop, as many people don’t report when they happen. Obviously, no one will admit to the police that they were replying to a text when they rear-ended another car.
Hopefully, with 47 states now having laws criminalizing driving while texting, we will see a reduction in accidents. Matter of fact, most states have even banned hands-free communications by younger drivers when on the road!
If you’ve been involved in an accident in Florida, contact our experienced car accident lawyer in Orlando today at Payas, Payas & Payas. Call us at (407) 888-8888.
