While driving risk for young

New research from the US shows that texting while driving has become a major cause of deaths and injuries amongst youngsters in the US. Using smartphones for texting or accessing the internet while at the wheel is the biggest single cause of death for teenagers in the US according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The report says that in spite of 45 US states having banned drivers from sending texts or emails while at the wheel, up to 660,000/hour are using smartphones
December 15, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
New research from the US shows that texting while driving has become a major cause of deaths and injuries amongst youngsters in the US. Using smartphones for texting or accessing the internet while at the wheel is the biggest single cause of death for teenagers in the US according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The report says that in spite of 45 US states having banned drivers from sending texts or emails while at the wheel, up to 660,000/hour are using smartphones while driving.

According to the NHTSA, texting while driving is six times more dangerous than driving while under the influence of alcohol. Yet drivers are still taking this risk. A recent study showed that up to 70% of US drivers are using smartphones while at the wheel, with 61% sending texts and 33% using email.

Related Content

  • Distraction poses increasing risk to driving safety
    July 21, 2014
    In the UK a number of road safety campaigning groups are warning that driver distraction from mobile phones will become a bigger killer than drink driving by 2015. While cellphone use by drivers is banned in the UK, penalties are still light and enforcement lax. Drivers still frequently use cellphones while behind the wheel. Suggestions have been made to double the penalties facing offenders, but if this ruling is accepted it will still take time to implement. And some say these tougher penalties are still
    Read More
  • Europe’s road safety targets at risk
    July 10, 2015
    This new analysis has been published by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). According to the ETSC data, 2014 showed the lowest annual reduction in EU road deaths since 2001. In all 25,845 people were killed in road crashes in the 28 nations of the EU during 2014. This represented a decrease of just 0.6% compared to 2013. EU member states now need to cut deaths by almost 8% each year until 2020 to meet the target set in 2010 to halve deaths within a decade.
    Read More
  • New research highlights risks of smartphone use while driving
    April 13, 2012
    A new study carried out by the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) highlights the increased risks resulting from drivers using smartphones while at the wheel. Previous research shows that using a mobile phone while driving impairs driving performance. But with smartphones now becoming more common, an increasing number of drivers are able to engage in a broad range of activities using their phone while at the wheel. The TRL’s study investigated whether there was an effect of social networking using a sm
    Read More
  • In-car technology to cut crashes
    December 15, 2015
    New safety requirements could see vehicles in Europe being fitted with in-car technology to cut crashes. The European Commission is working on plans to develop new a safety strategy that will require vehicle producers to introduce new systems. One of the technologies being considered is for in-car systems that would use facial recognition camera systems to detect whether a driver is fatigued at the wheel or using a cellphone while driving. According to the Transport Research Laboratory, this technology coul
    Read More

Highlighted Content