Texting While Driving
ByOne study suggests that teens text while driving 46% of the time! This is almost half the time a teen, who is vastly under experienced, is operating a moving vehicle. The average teen sends or receives approximately 3,000 text messages each month. Many of these are read or sent while behind the wheel. When texting, our focus is diverted from the road on average 4.6 seconds. This is enough time to travel the full length of a football field at 55mph.
Teens are not the only ones performing this unsafe act. Many States are considering bans on texting while operating a vehicle. How are they going to enforce this? In California, we have a ban on using a cell phone in a vehicle, unless it is used with a hands free device. Each day I must pass 5 to 10 drivers with their cell phones to their ears. Many in law enforcement believe that texting or the use of cell phones creates the same endangerment as someone operating a vehicle while drunk.
Last week I came across this Public Service Announcement (PSA), on YouTube, which details a horrific incident created by a person texting on her cell phone. Please be aware that this video is very graphic and disturbing, but perhaps it may give you pause before reaching for your cell phone to review an incoming message or typing out a quick response, while you are driving.
