Texting while driving is a growing trend, it's a national epidemic, and quickly becoming the number one killer on public highways.

The Shocking Statistics

• 4383 accidents per day caused by texting and driving – National Safety Council
• 904 injuries per day caused by texting and driving – Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study
• 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY caused by texting and driving – Ins. Institute for Hwy Safety Fatality Facts
• Accounts for 25% of ALL car accidents caused by texting and driving - National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin
• Texting is 6 times more likely to cause an accident than a drunk driver - textinganddrivingsafety.com
• 2 out of 3 drivers admit to texting and driving - National Analysis
• Average time spent driving blind by drivers that text is 20% - National Analysis
• People how text and drive are 23 times more likely to be in a crash – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin
• Law enforcement can obtain all mobile device records if you are involved in a crash resulting in injury or death, including text times, locations and speed.

 

I hate to say this but they need to find a way to disable texting while driving. I know there will always be a way around it and some people say it's not the governments place to decide how we use thing but the accidents are avoidable. I see so many people going down the highway texting, cops included. It blows my mind that these people care so little for personal safety and the safety of others.

 

When it starts becoming worse than drinking and driving, absolutely something needs to be done. And I personally believe it needs more than a media campaign.

 

Wow...that's an eye opener.. Whats sad about this is the number of drivers texting is growing at a very high rate..and yes even cops are texting. Just when I thought ive seen it all the other day I was passing a lady putting on lip stick and texting at the same time. not to mention swerving all over the place..

 

Unfortunately these people have the "It won't happen to me" mentality. My brother is a horrible offender of texting and driving. Nothing we or his girlfriend says stops him, it's only a matter of time now...

 

I have lived in the States some 19 years now, but originally from the U.K.
Even when I lived in the U.K. just using a phone in a car was illegal, and since then the Law now includes the use of any drinks while driving , even drinking water while driving is illegal. You are required by Law to pull over to do any of these things. BIG fines which are imposed for these things, to a great extent, is a deterant. I feel in the U.S. they are always too late to make these decisions until people are being killed, and then they only half do the job.For example WHY have they made it illegal to use a phone in a school zone.?? There are children AND adults in other areas at risk, WHY just in school areas, job only HALF done AGAIN. ENOUGH SAID

 

Here in California it is illegal to talk and text while driving.

 

But I still see 2 out 3 drivers texting.

 

Illegal to talk?
My MINI is equipped with a hands free device to answer my calls while I am driving and I have talked on it - the controls are in the steering wheel. Are you saying that is illegal now too?

 

When I am in my "other" job...sitting up high in a truck....and a cop passes ME while texting...it kind of says it all...
You cannot get a law enforced when EVEN the enforcers don't follow it....
That is why many cops will not give seatbelt tickets....the belt catches on their gunbelt...causes issues...so ethically, many cops will not ticket it....
Similarily ....they type in plates in a computer while driving.....
And text on their own phone....
I have two cops in the family... But this stuff always comes up at holiday dinners...sure...skirpad time, extra training....but texting drivers are a hazard to ALL.

 

Hands free is still legal in CA.

 

That's what I thought.

 

Hands-free is not legal in California for drivers under 18 except in an emergency.

 

Of course you do. When has a law stopped people before? The best you can do is educate, but it's still up to that person to stop. No law will change that. I was just pointing out to Terryr that some states do have laws in place, not every location is the same.
Yup sorry, hands free is fine.

 

But for the rest of us it is.

You had me worried for a moment.

 

From what I read total hands free is legal in all 50 states for adults, because it allows you to keep your eyes on the road and use both hands unencumbered to drive. According to analyst handling your phone to make voice calls is almost as dangerous as texting, hence the reason it's illegal in a lot of states.

I hate to say it but I think the solution is simple, just make handling a mobile device while driving illegal in all 50 states and enforce it like driving while impaired because that's what it really is.

Unfortunately when the ramification pain far exceeds the perceived pleasure behavior changes in most who endanger the public.

 

Whether you're holding a cell phone in your hand or using a hands free device you're still multi-tasking and that increases the odds for an accident whether there's a law or not.

 

Then what about talking to a passenger in your car - isn't that also multi-tasking?

 

OK....no farting when driving....that IS MULTITASKING.... LOL...
OK to be serious....
You cannot fix stupid. Period. Some folks can get so involved in doing a 2nd activity...like talking to a passenger or even on a hands free devise to the point of not paying attention...
YOU CAN NOT LEGISLATE INTELEGANCE......you can only prod folks away from doing the most dangerous stuff....like looking down and typing.....
If a person does not have the ability to drive and CHEW GUM at the same time.(we all know a few....)..A TOTALLY LEGAL ACT, But one some folks have issues with(lol) I hope they know enough to not do ANYTHING ELSE...CAUSE THEY WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE....but everybody thinks THEY ARE SUPERMAN/SUPERWOMAN and will not have an accident....kind of like the attitude about drinking and driving... .. .. .

 

I spotted a driver ahead of me weaving back and forth. He was texting, eating and smoking at the same time. I was tempted to being proactive by knocking him of the road before he caused an accident but I had my daughter in the car.

 

Whenever I see a chick in a car behind me using her slanted rearview mirror putting on make up in 7AM traffic, I tap my breaks as often as I can until she gives up....better than being rear-ended.

 

They made it illegal here in Ohio to text while driving at any age, but it has absolutely no teeth. It's a secondary offense, which means they have to stop you for doing something else. I can't imagine what lobby would have blocked it from being a primary offense since all the cell carriers have billboards saying don't text and drive

 

In my last car (Honda CRV) I was rear-ended by a woman with a cell phone in one hand and a smoke in the other. I was stopped at a light and she hit me going 35-40 mph. No skid marks. Luckily, much of the impact was absorbed by her car going under mine.

 

how is using a hands free device any more distracting than talking to your passengers in the car?

or do you just not speak to anyone on car trips?

 

Hands free is not much safer

http://evidencebasedliving.human.cor...while-driving/
The latest study, commissioned by the American Automobile Association and performed by researchers are the University of Utah, measured the cognitive distraction created by performing a wide variety of tasks while driving. Listening to the radio or a book on tape proved to be the least distracting activities, while performing a verbal cognitive task involving math and word recall proved to be the post distracting. Talking on a hands-free celluar device ranked in the middle of the spectrum – more distracting than talking to a passenger and slightly less distracting than holding a phone up to your ear.
There’s more evidence, as well. A systematic review published in 2009 found talking on the phone – hands-free or not – has a negative influence upon driving performance. And it found that people talking on hands-free devices drive at faster speeds than those using hand-held device possibly because the hands-free device provides a false sense of security, resulting in a greater incidence of car accidents.