Texting doesn’t just affect teenage drivers
While people often think that teens are responsible for many of the texting-and-driving accidents that happen on today’s roads, the reality is that teens are not the only ones who are responsible. While teens are impacted greatly by the choice to text and drive, every age group has people who choose to perform this dangerous act while driving.
Did you know that texting a driving is just as bad as drinking? Studies have found that texting and driving makes you as dangerous as you’d be if you had four beers to drink before getting behind the wheel. That’s a significant impact on your ability to drive safely.
In 2019, around 422 people lost their lives due to cellphone-related distractions in America. Each day, approximately 11 teens die because of texting and driving.
Are teens more likely to cause text-related crashes?
It’s possible, though the age groups who are texting and driving are aging up. Younger drivers are already at risk of getting into crashes due to their inexperience. Adding texting makes them around 400% more likely to get into a crash compared to experienced drivers. Interestingly, while 39% of high school students admitted to texting and driving in the last month, 42.2% of Millennial parents admitted to reading texts. Put plainly, while teens do text and drive, other age groups could be just as much at fault.
With approximately 16.2% of all drivers texting behind the wheel as of a 2021 survey, there is no surprise that so many auto crashes happen. Texting creates a dangerous scenario where you take your eyes off the road much more often than if you weren’t texting. Even if you look away for just a few seconds, doing so could end up causing a serious or fatal collision.
With around 1.6 million crashes caused annually because of texting a driving, now is a good time to talk to your children and family members about the hazards associated with using devices behind the wheel. Making it clear that this behavior is dangerous and unacceptable may help you convince those you love to avoid doing so and to stay safer on the road.