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Texting and driving, as everyone knows, do not mix. Both activities are dangerous and often deadly choices when combined. Snapchatting while driving is also dangerous. During the week of October 31, 2016, a young driver and his passenger were snapchatting while driving at 107 mph. This distraction caused the deaths of a mother and her children as well as the driver and his passenger. This must stop. Nothing is that important to warrant the taking of a life. In our continuing efforts to get distracted driving stopped, we would like to share with you the “25 Scariest Texting and Driving Accident Statistics” from IceBike.org.

1. Over 2.5 million people in the U.S. are involved in road accidents each year. The population of the U.S. is just 318.9 million. At this rate, the American people could be extinct in two human life spans. This is an astounding number of traffic accidents.
2. Of these, 1.6 million have a cell phone involved in them. That is 64 percent of all the road accidents in the United States. Over half the road accidents in the States have cell phones involved, and if this does not make you realize just how potent it is, what will?
3. 37,000+ people die in automobile crashes in the U.S. every year
4. Every year, about 421,000 people are injured in crashes that have involved a driver who was distracted in some way.
5. Each year, over 330,000 accidents caused by texting while driving lead to severe injuries. This means that over 78 percent of all distracted drivers are distracted because they have been texting while driving.
6. 1 out of 4 car accidents in the U.S. are caused by texting while driving.
7. Texting and driving is 6 times more likely to get you in an accident than drunk driving.
8. It takes an average of three seconds after a driver’s mind is taken off the road for any road accident to occur. This is the bare minimum amount of time it takes, and it is surprisingly small. Three seconds is the time it takes to turn your ignition when starting your car.
9. Reading a text message while driving successfully distracts a driver for a minimum of five seconds each time. This means that the chances of an accident occurring while reading a text are extremely high.
10. The average speed in the U.S. is about 55 mph. Taking five seconds to read a text in this time means that the driver travels the length of a football field without looking at the road. There are so many vehicles on the road now that this means there is a huge chance of something terrible happening in this distance.
11. When you text while driving, the time that you spend with your eyes off the road increases by about 400 percent. It is already dangerous enough to be distracted by NATURE while driving. So why make things 4 times as bad by texting?
12. The chances of a crash because of any reason are increased by 23 times when you are texting. Even if the crash is another driver’s fault, you will probably have been able to avoid it if you had been looking at the road instead of the phone.
13. When you compare this to the 2.8 times more risk that dialing a number on a phone imparts, you know that you are playing with fire.
14. Every day, 11 teenagers die because they were texting while driving.
15. 94 percent of teenagers understand the consequences of texting and driving, but 35 percent of them admitted that they do it anyway.
16. Of all the teenagers ever involved in fatal accidents every year, 21 percent were using a cell phone at the time of the accident.
17. Teen drivers have a 400 percent higher chance of being in a car crash when texting while driving than adults.
18. 25 percent of teens respond to at least one text while driving, every single time.
19. 10 percent of adults and 20 percent of teenagers have admitted that they have entire conversations over text message platforms while driving.
20. 82 percent of American teenagers own a cell phone, and use it regularly to call and text message.
21. 52 percent of these talk on the phone while driving, and 32 percent text on the road.
22. When polled, 77 percent of adults and 55 percent of teenage drivers say that they can easily manage texting while driving.
23. When teens text while they drive, they veer off lane 10 percent of their total drive time.
24. A study at the University of Utah found that the reaction time for a teen using a cell phone is the same as that of a 70 year-old who is not using one.
25. 48 percent of kids in their younger teenage years have been in a car while the driver was texting. Over 1,600 children in the same age group are killed each year because of crashes involving texters.

“If distracted driving is to stop, it must stop with each one of us. Please do not text or snapchat and drive. If you or a loved one is injured in an accident as the result of a distracted driver, contact our experienced team. We are here to assist you,” said Naples Vehicle Accident Attorney, Randall Spivey of Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A.

Naples Vehicle Accident Attorney, Randall L. Spivey is a Board Certified Trial Attorney – the highest recognition for competence bestowed by the Florida Bar and a distinction earned by just one (1%) percent of Florida attorneys.  He has handled over 2,000 personal injury and wrongful death cases throughout Florida.  For a free and confidential consultation to discuss your legal rights, contact the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A., in Lee County at 239.337.7483 or toll free at 1.888.477.4839,or by email to Randall@SpiveyLaw.com.  Visit SpiveyLaw.com for more information.  You can contact Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A.in Charlotte County at 941.764.7748 and in Collier County 239.793.7748.