Texting and driving don't mix: ZoomSafer and Pew Researchs' Staggering statistics, Part 2

January 18, 2010 - Research shows that inappropriate cell phone use while driving is at least as dangerous as drinking and driving.

That's not limited to talking on a handset and texting - it includes surfing the web, sending and receiving email, and keeping connected on Facebook and Twitter.

This four-part series will discuss 1) Teen texting and driving; 2) Staggering statistics; 3) How to keep teens from texting while driving; and 4) What every business should know.

The statistics, below, are staggering and should cause everyone to reconsider how they use their cell phone while driving!

Statistics from ZoomSafer's Distracted Driving Corporate White Paper:

• The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that at any given moment in our country, 812,000 vehicles are being driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone
• Each year cell phone distractions cause 600,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, and 3,000 deaths. This works out to more than 1,643 crashes, 904 injuries, and 8 deaths each day
• By the end of 2008, 110.4 billion text messages were sent in the U.S. each month, ten times more than were sent in 2005
• As many as 25 percent of automobile crashes are caused by driver distraction due to mobile phone usage
• Drivers dialing their cell phone are 2.8 to 5.9 times more likely to crash/near miss; drivers texting are 23 times more likely to crash/near miss
• A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine determined that the risk of accident caused by cell phone use is equal to the risk caused by legal intoxication
• Other studies show that the number of distracted driving fatalities now far surpasses the number of fatalities caused by drunk driving
• In 2008 alone, crashes caused by distracted driving cost over $40 billion
• On-the-job crashes cost employers over $24,500 per crash, $150,000 per injury, and 3.6 million per fatality

Over the summer of 2009, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project conducted a survey of 800 teens ages 12-17 asking about their experiences with cell phone use in cars.

• 75% of all American teens ages 12-17 own a cell phone, and 66% use their phones to send or receive text messages
• Older teens are more likely than younger teens to have cell phones and use text messaging; 82% of teens ages 16-17 have a cell phone and 76% of that cohort are cell phone texters
• One in three (34%) texting teens ages 16-17 say they have texted while driving. That translates into 26% of all American teens ages 16-17
• Half (52%) of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. That translates into 43% of all American teens ages 16-17
• 48% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting
• 40% say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger

And lastly, ZoomSafer reported that Liberty Mutual research shows 73% of teens admit to texting while driving – and of those, 97% recognize that it’s dangerous, but still do it.

Many parents, teens, and workers have been guilty at one time or another, and some more than others, of using their cell phones improperly while driving.

States such as California, New York, Washington, New Jersey, and others have banned talking on cell phones altogether unless a hands-free device is used. But that’s not stopping most people.

That’s why Zoom Safer has developed software to prevent the improper use of cell phones while driving (click here).

Most recently they launched their commercial version of the software (click here).

Your feedback about this issue are welcome in the comments section below.

Part 1: Texting and driving don’t mix: Technology to stop teens from unsafe cell phone use

Part 2: Texting and driving don’t mix: ZoomSafer and Pew Researchs' Staggering statistics

Part 3: Texting and driving don't mix: How to keep teens from texting while driving

Part 4: Texting and driving don't mix: What every business should know