Text messaging while driving is not only illegal; it is one of the most dangerous distractions. It requires drivers to take their hands off the wheel, eyes off the road and mind off the task of driving.
Here are a few more valuable facts about the risks of using mobile communication devices while driving.
- Teen drivers are more likely than other age groups to be involved in a fatal crash where distraction is reported.
- Of the American teens surveyed, 40 percent say they have been in a car when the driver used a mobile phone in a way that put people in danger.
- Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
- Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.
- Sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, which is equivalent to driving (at 55 mph) the length of an entire football field, blind.
- Headset mobile phone use is not substantially safer than hand-held use.
- Using a mobile phone 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 0.08 percent.
- Driving while using a mobile phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.
