According to the website, www.distraction.gov, more than 3,000 people were killed in 2010 in crashes involving a distracted driver. In addition, an estimated 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver. While changing the radio station, or even your CD, is distracted driving, the most common form of distracted driving today involves the use of cell phones, whether it be making or receiving a call or sending and reading texts. “Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves,” notes Donna Lemoine, trauma services director at Rapides Regional Trauma Center.
According to the distraction.gov website, sending or receiving a text takes a driver’s eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. That is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field at 55 mph blind. “Use of a cell phone, whether hand-held or hands-free, reduces a driver’s reaction as much as a blood-alcohol level of 0.8 percent,” Holcombe said. “Some people who would not dream of drinking and driving will use a cell phone without a second thought.”
“For years, we’ve always known drinking and driving was a fatal combination,” said Lemoine. “Now, the distracted driver is just as fatal.”