Personal Injury Law

New Research on danger of cell phone conversations for distracted drivers

By LaBovick Law

Approximately 1.6 million traffic accidents happen on roads across the U.S. because people are talking on cell phones. Studies show that eight in ten Americans admit to driving while on their cell phones.

A report by The Harvard Mental Health Letter found that talking on a cell phone while driving is more dangerous than talking to a passenger in the car. Researchers found that the drivers talking by cell phone were more likely to drift between lanes and miss an exit than were drivers talking to passengers.

Some drivers feel that using a hands-free cell phone will make it better, but research shows otherwise. Studies show that hands-free cell phones can be just as distracting and that any type of cell phone used while driving can cause impairments similar to drunk driving.

In 2009, there were 33,963 Americans killed in traffic crashes and many that were injured in traffic accidents. Automobile traffic accidents are the number one cause of death for Americans ages 3 to 33. Those numbers are shocking, but because drivers spend so much time behind the wheel, there is a false sense of security despite knowing that several people have died or been seriously injured on our highways. This feeling of safety brings on complacency. Operating a vehicle is serious business and not paying attention to the highway can lead to deadly results.

Distracted driving is any non-driving activity a person engages in that has the potential to distract him or her from the Research on distracted driving reveals some surprising facts:
 

• Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than half a million were injured.
• In 2008, almost 20 percent of all crashes in the year involved some type of distraction.
• The younger, inexperienced drivers under 20 years old have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
• Using a cell phone use 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 .08 percent.

Distracted driving and cell phone use is a serious issue and several publications have published research on the dangers in addition to the Harvard Mental Letter. The New England Journal of Medicine published the article 'Talking about Driving and Distraction'. The publication Human Factors published a detailed story on 'A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver'.

We encourage you to take the Pledge to no DWD: Driving While Distracted. Click on the following link to take the Pledge to STOP Driving While Distracted.
 
Click on the following link to read more from The Harvard Medical Letter on Why cell phone conversations distract drivers

Click on the following link to read more from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) on the Dangers of Distracted Driving

Full post as published by LaBovick Injury Law Blog on September 15, 2010 (boomark / email).