by Distracted Driving Lawyer in Dallas, Tim O’Hare
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Just over a week ago on March 29th, 13 people died tragically on a two-lane Texas highway. The victims, all senior citizens, were returning home from a church retreat. The small bus they were riding in was hit head on by a pickup truck. There were two survivors. One individual in the bus, and the driver of the truck.
After the accident, the 20-year-old driver of the truck confessed to witnesses he had been texting while driving. Witnesses also captured cell phone video of the young man driving erratically on the road, moments before the head-on collision that tragically took the lives of 13 people who leave behind grieving families.
This accident was entirely preventable. And sadly, it is just one example of people losing their lives due to distracted driving. Do you use your cell phone while driving? Ladies, have you ever applied your makeup on your morning commute to work? Any activity that takes your attention off the road, even for a split second, is considered distracted driving, and it can be deadly.
Here are 10 shocking truths about distracted driving you need to know:
• More than 37,000+ people die in automobile crashes in the U.S every year, and sixty-four percent of all traffic accidents in the United States involve cell phone use.
• Of those 64%, about 421,000 people are injured in crashes involving a driver who was in some way distracted.
• More than 78 percent of all distracted drivers are distracted because they have been texting while driving. One in every four car accidents in the U.S. are caused by texting while driving.
• If you text and drive, you spend 400 percent less time looking at the road compared to drivers who do not text while driving, and you are 23 times more likely to be involved in an accident than you are if driving while not distracted.
• If you text while driving, it only takes three seconds after you take your eyes off the road for an accident to occur. Reading a text message while driving distracts a driver for a minimum of five seconds each time.
• The average speed in the U.S. is about 55mph. Taking five seconds to read a text at 55mph means the driver travels the length of a football field without looking at the road, or while distracted.
• Every day, 11 teenagers die because they were texting while driving. Ninety-four percent of teenagers say they understand the consequences of texting and driving, but 35 percent of them admitted that they do it anyway.
• Teen drivers are 400 percent more likely to be in a car crash when texting while driving than adults.
• Ten percent of adults and 20 percent of teenagers admit they have entire conversations by text while driving.
• A study at The University of Utah found out the reaction time for a teen using a cell phone is the same as that of a 70 year old who isn’t using one.
Don’t kid yourself into believing it won’t happen to you. The fact is, it could happen to you and, if you continue to text while driving, chances are, it will happen to you.
If you have been seriously injured or lost a family member in an accident caused by distracted driving, contact The Law Offices of Tim O’Hare to speak with a Dallas-Ft. Worth distracted driving lawyer.
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