Problem

Text messaging while driving has become one of the leading contributors of car crashes today.  According the law firm of Edgar Synder & Associates, who represent injured people, talking on the cell phone and texting while driving leads to distraction and now the leading cause of car accidents. Some of the statistics they have collected for teen drivers are:

• In 2007, using a cell phone or text messaging, contributed to nearly 1,000 crashes involving 16- and 17-year-old drivers.
• Over 60 percent of American teens admit to risky driving, and nearly half of those that admit to risky driving also admit to text messaging behind the wheel.
• Each year, 21% of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of cell phone usage. This result has been expected to grow as much as 4% every year.
• Over one-third of all young drivers, ages 24 and under, are texting on the road.
• Teens reported that texting is their number one driver distraction.

http://www.edgarsnyder.com/auto-accident/auto/cell/statistics.html
This is a credible source because Edgar Snyder & Associates are Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, which means they were awarded the top 5 percent of state-wide lawyers.  Most of these statistics probably came from many of their own cases.

Texting while Driving

I am researching the laws regarding driving and the use of cell phones because I can recall numerous times where I am driving behind a car that is swerving in and out of a lane and I pass them with one hand on the wheel and a little cell-phone screen in front of them.  I will fess up though that I have probably been that car to many drivers too.  The issue is becoming that the younger the generation, the more techno-savvy they are, and the more they will text and drive because they/we feel capable of it.  The problem remains that as well as we/they feel with being able to multi-task at the wheel, the higher the accident ratings are.  Which is why states that don’t have laws for cell phone usage and driving, such as Florida, should attain those laws, which will save more people.