WARNING: We post these statistics with hopes of changing drivers’ behavior behind the wheel. While accurate, these texting driving statistics are very disturbing.

When it comes to texting while driving, teens are a particular risk group considering that, according to Nielsen (PDF), “The average U.S. mobile teen now sends or receives an average of 2,899 text-messages per month” and apparently some of those texts are being sent and read from behind the wheel.

A 2007 study conducted by AAA and Seventeen magazine has been widely misquoted as 46 percent of teens admit to texting while driving. But what the study found is that “61 percent of teens admit to risky driving habits.” Forty-six percent of that 61 percent say that they text message while driving.

A recently released study by the VirginiaTech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who were texting were 23 times more at risk of a “crash or near crash event” than “nondistracted driving.” As per talking on a cell phone, the same study found no increased risk for truck drivers and 1.3 times the risk for car drivers. There was considerably more risk associated with dialing while driving. The institute’s Richard Hanowski acknowledges that the numbers are likely to be different with car drivers. As reported by CNET’s Jennifer Guevin, the study also found that “texting took a driver’s focus away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds–enough time…to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.”

A December 2007 simulator study by Clemson University found that “text messaging and using iPods caused drivers to leave their lanes 10 percent more often.”

Research on distracted driving reveals some surprising facts:

* Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. (Source: Carnegie Mellon)
* Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than half a million were injured. (NHTSA)
* The younger, inexperienced drivers under 20 years old have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.
* Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
* Using a cell phone use while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)

Risk of collision increases by up to 400% when talking on a cell phone while driving
*Nearly 80% of collisions involve some form of driver inattention (distraction, fatigue or looking away)
*In one study of 100 drivers[1], cell phones were associated with the highest frequency of distraction-related events for crashes and near-crashes
*Another study[2], done with driving simulators, found that when talking on a cell phone:
*Young drivers’ response times to brake lights ahead were as slow as those by elderly drivers
*Drivers of all ages were 9% slower in hitting their brakes when needed
*Crash rates were more than 5 times greater than for undistracted drivers. That’s in increase of over 500%!
SOURCE: OPI.MT

The following statistics come from a study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI):

* Of all cell phone related tasks – including talking, dialing, or reaching for the phone – texting while driving is the most dangerous.
* Teen drivers are four times more likely than adults to get into car crashes or near crash events directly related to talking on a cell phone or texting.
* A car driver dialing a cell phone is 2.8 times more likely to get into a crash than a non-distracted driver.
* A driver reaching for a cell phone or any other electronic device is 1.4 times more likely to experience a car crash.
* A car driver talking on their phone is 1.3 times more likely to get into an accident.
* A truck driver texting while driving is 23.2 times more likely to get into an accident than a trucker paying full attention to the road.
* A truck driver dialing a cell is 5.9 times more likely to crash.
* A trucker reaching for a phone or other device is 6.7 times more likely to experience a truck accident.
* For every 6 seconds of drive time, a driver sending or receiving a text message spends 4.6 of those seconds with their eyes off the road. This makes texting the most distracting of all cell phone related tasks.

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a texting while driving accident, please do not hesitate to contact Atlanta injury lawyers Mark Link and Houston Smith. Let us help you get the settlement you deserve.