Distracted Drivers: Driving While Intexticated

"DWI" now has another meaning: "Driving While Intexticated."  While it may be a clever play on words, the issue of texting while driving is a serious one.  In 2011, at least 23% of auto collisions involved cell phones.  At the very least, when someone decides to take a look at an incoming text message, they divert their attention for a mere five seconds.  If you were traveling at 55 miles per hour, you would travel the length of a football field without looking at the road!

The finger is usually pointed at teenage drivers when the topic of texting while driving is mentioned.  But adults do it, too.  If you're honest, you're probably guilty of glancing at your phone a time or two while driving.  48% of teens say that they have been in a car with someone while the driver was texting.  And if an adult is caught in the act, their justifications usually go something like this: "Reading a text is safer than composing and sending one."  Or, "I hold the phone near the windshield for 'better visibility.'"  Or, "I only text at a stop sign or a red light."

What can be done about it?  Well, in Hawaii, there are laws in place to help reduce the number of distracted drivers.  Hawaii is one of 39 states that flat out ban drivers from cell phone use while driving.  That includes texting at stop signs and red lights, and it even includes pulling over and operating your phone while your engine is still on.

We have pretty clear laws about driving while intoxicated.  Here are a few statistics that might make you think twice before sending that text.  

Texting While Driving Causes:
- 1,600,000 accidents per year (National Safety Council)
- 330,000 injuries per year (Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study)
- 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY (Institute for Highway Safety Fatality Facts)
- Nearly 25% of ALL car accidents

Texting While Driving is: 
- About 6 times more likely to cause an accident than driving intoxicated
- The same as driving after 4 beers (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration)
- The number one driving distraction reported by teen drivers

So what is being done about it?  Social media has championed a campaign targeting drivers between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four.  The hope for campaigns like this is that it will do for distracted drivers what drunk driving campaigns have done for reducing alcohol-related accidents.  Not too long ago, taming the beast that is drunk driving seemed like an insurmountable task.  Thanks to a number of anti-drunk driving campaigns, as a nation, we have seen a decrease in alcohol-related accidents.  There is hope for this new generation of texters when they take to the wheel.  The task at hand is not too large.  By raising awareness and working together as communities, we can affect change. 

Statistics from: Texting and Driving Safety