Driving while Texting Six Times More Dangerous than Driving while Drunk

Driving a vehicle while texting is six times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The federal agency reports that sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent — when traveling at 55 mph – of driving the length of an entire football field while blindfolded.

Texting in cars and trucks causes over 3,000 deaths and 330,000 injuries per year, according to a Harvard Center for Risk Analysis study.

Texting while driving a vehicle has now replaced drinking while driving as the leading cause of accidents and deaths of teenage drivers. Texting in traffic isn’t simply a problem among teens and 47% of adults admit that they text while driving. Texting drivers are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash than non-texting drivers.

Fortunately, there’s also good news. A survey conducted by NHTSA found that 90% of drivers support laws to ban texting while driving. A survey reported by Nationwide Insurance found that 80% of drivers support some type of cell phone usage restrictions. The majority of respondents say they are supportive of laws restricting any type of cell phone use while driving; 80% support a ban on text messaging while driving; 80% support a ban on e-mailing while driving; and almost 75% believe that restrictions should apply to all drivers, not just specific groups such as teens.