Driving safety: dangers of phone use

  • Published
  • By Maj. Courtney Harper
  • 6th Aerospace Medical Squadron
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Despite knowing that texting and driving is dangerous, most of us have done it at one time or another. We think that it will just take a second, I am a careful driver, traffic isn't that bad, or rationalize it some other way.

People who text and drive are 23 times more likely to get into a car accident. It takes a minimum of five seconds of your attention away from the road to send or read a text message while driving. If you are driving 55 mph down the highway, that is equivalent to driving the length of a football field in the time it takes to read one text message.

Try to imagine taking your eyes off the road for that amount of time and think of all the things that could happen, especially at that speed. On the interstate the speeds are even faster and more dangerous.

Some statistics on young drivers and texting are quite alarming: 77 percent of those surveyed feel very or somewhat confident in their driving skills while sending text messages and 53 percent feel it is easy to drive and send text messages despite evidence to the contrary and laws in many states prohibiting it.

Drivers justify reading texts while driving saying that it is safer to read a text while driving than composing a text. Drivers also state that when composing texts while driving they hold their phone up near the windshield to maintain visibility of the road. However, it is impossible to focus on the road and your cell phone at the same time.

This is not just a young person's habit. One in five drivers of all ages admit surfing the Internet while driving. Something that is more disturbing than these statistics is the fact that teenage drivers are learning these habits from their parents and other adult drivers. Fifteen percent of teenage drivers surveyed admitted seeing their parents send text messages while driving. Out of a group of 12-17 year olds surveyed, 48 percent reported having ridden in a car with someone while they were driving and texting.

The culture of dependence on cell phone use, to include texting, talking and surfing the Internet needs to change and it starts with you.

Not that many years ago nobody had cell phones; you actually had to wait until you got home from work or school to see if someone had left you a message on your answering machine.

However, in today's fast-paced world we have the mentality that nothing can wait. If we could all just take the pledge to put our phones away for just the time we are in the car, we might actually find it peaceful not worrying about who is calling or texting you or who is posting on social media.

All of these things are so unimportant, especially if you lose your life in a car accident while worrying about what someone said about you online or even that text message your spouse sent to you while you were driving home. It can wait; let's make the roads a safer place!

Statistics from www.textinganddrivingsafety.com