Per year about 400 fatal car crashes happen due to texting and driving. When you consider distracted driving as a whole that number increases by over 30,000. Think about how these numbers would change if people did not text and drive.
According to NHTSA within the years 2019-2022 texting and driving has decreased, but 2019 had the highest number of cell phone use while driving. In the year 2023, in the state of Michigan, there were 15,136 car crashes associated with distracted driving and 11,008 of those crashes were injured crashes.
Drivers between the ages of 15 and 30 are the most affected by texting and driving. According to NHTSA, a survey related to phone use crashes found that 16 percent were drivers between 15 and 19, and 37 percent were drivers between 20 and 29 years old.
Texting and driving can lead to an accident causing someone’s death. It is so easy nowadays to get distracted by your phone. When you hear or see a notification on your phone, some people automatically pick up their phone. In just that 5 seconds looking at your phone can cause you to hit someone.
With texting and driving being illegal in most states some people will decide to follow the rules so they don’t get in a crash, danger someone else’s life, or get a ticket by a cop. Others will choose to not follow the rules. This may be because they think a cop will not catch them or they don’t think about the consequences texting and driving can have.
People may continue to text and drive for many reasons even knowing the risk they are taking. For instance, social pressure to respond immediately, overconfidence in multitasking, or addiction to phone notifications are reasons why people continue to text and drive.
I have been a witness to a brutal car crash that was caused by an individual who was texting and driving. My mom and I were driving to a golf tournament that I had last year, and we were making a left-hand turn. Little did we know that the car in front of us was about to get t-boned. As the car in front of us was turning left, another car coming from the left of us blew past their red light. In a matter of seconds that was all caused because someone was texting and driving, not paying attention to what was going on in front of them.
