There has been much attention paid lately on the problems associated with driving and cell phone use and deservedly so. 

There are reports which indicate 1 in 4 traffic accidents in the U.S. are caused in some way by cell phone use and drivers talking on a cell phone are 4 times more likely to have an accident.  What is even more staggering is that texting while driving makes a driver more than 20 times more likely to have a car accident.  Some other numbers and statistics to digest today:

 

  • Answering a text takes your attention away from the road for about 5 seconds which is enough time to travel the length of an entire football field.
  • Teen age drivers make up the largest proportion of distracted drivers and according to a report 11 teens are killed every day because of texting.
  • Almost 95% of teens admit driving and texting is a serious issue but 35% admit to doing it with regularity.  Overall nearly half of teen drivers under the age of 18 admit to texting while driving.
  • While 26% of car accidents in 2013 were caused in some way by the use of a cell phone, most of them did not involve texting as the majority involved drivers distracted while talking on a handheld or hands-free device.
  • Some 70% of fatal traffic accidents involve men and about a quarter of them were DUI at the time of the crash.

 

Speaking of men: the average guy drives nearly 17,000 miles per year and will admit to being lost for about 300 of those miles.  You know how we hate asking for directions, especially with women in the car.  By the way 40% of men still feel very strongly they are better drivers than women.Of course we are.

Texting While Driving
Lisa F. Young, ThinkStock
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Close to 20% of men make rude gestures to other drivers at least once a week and while I’m not proud of that I might fall into that category.  My wife gets really ticked at me for this and she is probably correct because it could be dangerous.  You never know how the other driver will react and in this day and age anything can happen.

Here is a little tip: if the other car has a lot of stickers, decals and other markers you would be better off staying away because they are more likely to be hostile.

 

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