Distracted Driving

Deaths caused by automobile accidents have been a major problem since the beginning of automobile transportation. Excessive speeds, intoxicated drivers, impatient drivers, and other causes—including distracted driving—have contributed to a significant annual automobile accident death toll. Distracted driving is anything that distracts a driver from focusing completely on driving the vehicle. Historically, eating, drinking a beverage, lighting a pipe or cigarette, grooming, talking, arguing, children, pets, reading maps, or romantic exchanges between the driver and the front seat passenger have caused distracted driving.

In more recent decades technological developments have added to the list of distractions, including looking at directional devices; watching TV; manipulating a radio, CD player, or MP3 player; or other causes of inattention. All of the distracting devices and behaviors and more have contributed to automobile accidents. Other distractions include visual distractions that cause the driver to take his or her eyes off of the road and/or manual distractions that occur when the driver takes one or more hands off the steering wheel.

Since the advent of mobile phones, distracted driving caused by attending to a mobile phone or other device has been increasing. Texting, cell phones, in-car phones, and other distractions are cognitive distractions that cause the driver to fail to focus on his/her driving. Any distraction causes the driver to fail to focus on driving, which then endangers the driver, passengers, pedestrians, the vehicle, other vehicles, and property. Cognitive distractions caused by texting or by receiving or making mobile phone calls are the result of massive changes in technology. These changes have not been accompanied by increases in disciplined driver safety practices.

Effects

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that nine or more people are killed and over 1,060 are injured every day in the United States because of distracted driving. Accidents resulting in damage, injury, and death and caused by distractions from texting or phone usage have been increasing. Over 5,400 people were killed and 448,000 injured in driver-distracted wrecks in 2009, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation. These figures represent 16 percent of all fatal crashes and 20 percent of injuries from accidents.

Texting has been rapidly adopted by teenagers in U.S. society, tempting many to text while driving. A study by the American Automobile Association [Page 443](AAA) Foundation for Traffic Safety found that teenage drivers are the most distracted of all drivers. A study reports that they are distracted as much as 25 percent of the time by electronic communications devices. As a result, teens are more likely to be involved in a distracted-driver accident while texting than are older groups. The NHTSA estimates that 16 percent of teenagers involved in a fatal accident were distracted by texting. Studied have shown that a third of American drivers have either read or sent a text message or e-mail while driving in the 30 days prior to the time they were surveyed.

Distracted driving is responsible for more than nine deaths and 1,060 injuries per day in the United States. In 2009, fully 16 percent of all fatal crashes and 20 percent of all injuries from automobile accidents were attributed to distracted driving. All U.S. states have adopted laws to prohibit certain kinds of cell phone usage or texting.

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