At any given moment during the time, there are 660,000 drivers on all different roads in the United States who are using an electronic device while operating their vehicle. This troubling data comes from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has spent years trying to raise public awareness and sound the alarm about distracted driving.
Now, with troubling new data coming in showing surging death rates, hopefully
motorists will begin to realize that the obsession with phones and technology is costing people's lives. Drivers need to be aware of how dangerous it is to drive while distracted and should commit to being more focused on how they're driving rather than on what is going on with their phone or their in-vehicle infotainment system. If motorists were to make more careful choices and be smarter about avoiding distractions while driving, the roads could become a much safer place to be!
Motorists need to start paying attention to distracted driving risks because 2016 is going to be the second year in a row where there is a big jump in the number of people who lose their lives in car accidents. From 2014 to 2015, the biggest increase in deaths from year-to-year occurred since 1966, according to Wall Street Journal.
Based on preliminary data from 2016, it looks like death rates are going to go much higher again! During the first half of 2016, the number of deaths is already up 10.4 percent from 2015 to 2016, with around 17,000 fatalities over the first part of the year. This is being called a crisis by safety experts.
There are myriad possible proposed explanations for why so many lives are being lost in auto accidents. Some argue falling gas prices have made a difference by causing more people to drive, while others put forth the theory that more motorists are out and about because the economy is better and unemployment is down. The problem with these theories is, the total rate of miles driven is up 3.3 percent while the increase in deaths was more than double that.
Obviously, it is not just the fact there are more people which is causing more accidents. Something is going on with drivers. The problem is, people have become more reliant on phones, more motorists than ever are talking and texting, and more cars than ever have infotainment systems. With all of these distractions, people just cannot keep focused- and crash rates are going up as a predictable result.
Motorists need to make the smart choice not to drive while distracted by their phone or anything else. If every motorist were to commit to paying careful attention while driving, death rates could begin to decline substantially again and the roads could become a safer place to be.
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