Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Sue Scheff: Hang Up - Stop Texting and Driving

Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction. Take cell phones for example - their use while driving can reduce the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. Drivers who use phones are four times as likely to get into crashes. - Source: First Coast News

Using a cell phone while driving can delay a person's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.
Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured.

  • Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
  • Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.
  • Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction.
Talking, texting and driving can kill the same way drinking and driving can. As more and more teens use texting as their first course of communication, they are the ones we need to stress that texting and driving can kill. Parents need to be firm on their rules of texting, talking and driving. No text is worth dying over.

Read more and watch video.

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