Road accidents still attribute to thousands of deaths every single day. Unfortunately, a nice chunk of them are caused by texting while driving. People are now so used to using their mobile phones regularly, that they believe they can use their phone while driving.
Texting while driving is a habit many Americans can’t break. Unfortunately, it’s resulting in many unnecessary and untimely deaths across the country. The need for us to have self-control is apparent.
At Drive-Safely.net, we want to make sure our readers understand the importance of not texting while driving. Any second that your eyes aren’t on the road puts you at greater risk of an accident.
Surely, you’ve seen the texting commercials where someone looks down at their phone and ends up putting themselves or others in danger. These commercials are up there for a reason.
Because of this, and the growing threat of texting and driving, we have compiled a list of some of the most alarming texting statistics. Hopefully, after looking through some of these, you will see that this phenomenon needs to stop.
The Amount Of Road Casualties Each Year
It may come to a surprise for some, but there are roughly 2.5 million people in the U.S. that are involved in road accidents each year. Of these accidents mentioned, 1.6 million of them involved the use of a cell phone.
That accounts 64% of all the road accidents in the United States! That means that over half of these road accidents are a result of texting and driving.
Distraction Driving
Another alarming statistic states that roughly 37,000 people die in automobile crashes every year in the United States. On top of that, about 421,000 people are injured in crashes that have involve a distracted driver in some capacity.
That’s a lost half a million people that are affected by distraction driving. To make matters worse,1 out of 4 car accidents in the United States are caused by texting while driving, with over 330,000 of those accidents leading to severe injuries.
Still not convinced texting and driving is bad? Texting and driving is six times more likely to get you in an accident than drunk driving!
On average, it takes about three seconds after a driver’s mind is taken off the road for any road accident to occur.
Receiving and reading a text message while driving successfully distracts a driver for a minimum of five seconds each time.
Five seconds may not seem like much time at all, but a lot can happen within five seconds on the road. Otherwise, the statistic regarding texting accident wouldn’t be astronomically high.
Taking Responsibility
Lastly, let’s go over the fact that most people, teenagers and adults alike, realize that texting while driving is bad. Yet, they still do it anyway! Every day, 11 teenagers lose their lives because they were texting while driving.
That’s 11 children who will never get to experience college or adulthood. It’s truly a shame. About 25% of teens respond to at least one text while driving. In fact, 94% of teenagers understand the consequences of texting and driving, but 35% still do it anyway!
It seems like the idea that “it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt,” comes into play.
Have We Learned Our Lesson: Updates for 2023
I came across this article I wrote quite a while ago, and it got me thinking if after all those years, has anything changed with the numbers I’ve shared with you before? Have we learned our lesson from all those accidents and millions of fatalities caused by distracted driving?
Let the numbers speak for me:
| Year | Distracted driving accidents | Distracted driving deaths |
| 2019 | 986,000 | 2,895 |
| 2018 | 938,000 | 2,645 |
| 2017 | 912,000 | 3,003 |
| 2016 | 905,000 | 3,197 |
| 2015 | 885,000 | 3,242 |
| 2014 | 967,000 | 2,972 |
| 2013 | 904,000 | 2,910 |
| 2012 | 908,000 | 3,098 |
| 2011 | 826,000 | 3,047 |
| 2010 | 900,000 | 2,993 |
Source: NHTSA Studies retrieved from Bankrate.com
Seeing the numbers above convinced me that there hasn’t been any change at all.
Yes, the number of deaths has decreased, but I guess this has something to do with the development of modern safety gears to keep drivers safe in case of accidents. If you check the number of distracted driving accidents, we have the highest number in 2019, and it seems to be moving in an upward trend.
If we focus on fatal crashes and review the numbers for 2019, out of the 33,244 fatal crashes recorded by the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration, 2,895 or 9% are caused by distracted driving, and 387 or 13% of which is related to using a cellphone while driving.
With COVID-19 keeping people mostly at home since 2020, we may see a decline in these horrendous statistics, but well, yes, this is another external factor that doesn’t have anything to do with us learning from our history. We can’t just let go of those cell phones even if it may end our lives in an instant!
Please Visit Our Website For More Safety Information
These facts can be very disturbing to some, since these texting situations usually result in something serious and life threatening. If you’re a new driver, or even an experienced one, do everyone on the road a favor and avoid using your cellphone while driving. We need to make these alarming statistics and facts a thing of the past.
If you’re interested in more safe driving tips, as well as reviews on some online traffic and drivers ed schools to try, please visit our website today.
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