Don’t Drive Distracted
Individuals who drive while sending or reading text messages are 23 percent more likely to be involved in a car crash than other drivers. A crash typically happens within an average of three seconds after a driver is distracted.
Facts About Texting & Driving
The United States Department of Transportation notes that cell phones are involved in 1.6 million auto crashes each year that cause half a million injuries and take 6,000 lives.
According to FocusDriven, up to 80% of all crashes involve some form of driver distraction.
At any point of the day, 11% of drivers are talking on their cell phones, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
A study from the University of Utah indicated that the reaction time of a teen driver using a cell phone is the same as that of a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone.
According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, texting while driving is six times more likely to cause an auto crash than driving while intoxicated.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute installed cameras on dashboards inside truck cabs. From the video footage, on average, it took five seconds with their eyes off the road when drivers experienced distractions. The distance covered in five seconds of driving at 55 mph is equivalent to the length of a football field.
According to AT&T, nearly 9 in 10 people engage in smartphone activities while driving.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, in 2019, 7,634 people were injured and 87 people were killed in Missouri in crashes involving distracted drivers.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, over the past five years, cell phone-related crashes in Missouri have increased by 30%.
MoDOT said distracted driving is not just a younger driver problem. Approximately 70% of drivers using cell phones in Missouri traffic crashes were 22 years of age or older.Â
Sources: AAA, United States Department of Transportation, University of Utah, FocusDriven Nationwide Insurance study, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Missouri State Highway Patrol.
