Most people have done it and live to tell the tale. The use of the word “most” means that there are a minority of cases where texting whilst driving leads to serious repercussions. Let’s analyze the problem, why it occurs and the potential problems it can lead to.
Our pace of life has never been faster, multi research papers prove it. We flit from one task to another aided by devices that allow us to be on call the whole time. Disconnecting from our communication devices is becoming increasingly difficult. People expect to be able to contact us and receive a reply almost instantaneously throughout the day. We are using multiple applications, from telephones, social media, messaging apps and texts. Trying to switch off from them is a challenge. Trying to relax, take time away from the office or concentrate on a task that needs to be done well is a real challenge.
When you’re driving your eyes have to be open and on the road watching the cars around you, road signs, and traffic lights. Along with your mind on the road and destination. Which means you are multitasking. When you’re texting your eyes are on your cell phone screen and keypad. Along with your mind on what you’re going to say next. So how can you do both? Please stop!”
― Jonathan Anthony Burkett, Neglected But Undefeated: The Life Of A Boy Who Never Knew A Mother’s Love
The fact that driving and texting is dangerous is plain common sense. The moment that you are concentrating on your phone, you are not concentrating on the road. That might be the moment a car or a person appears unexpectedly, your ability to react is greatly reduced as your eyes are elsewhere.
The CDC predicts that over 3000 people will die due to distracted driving in the USA in 2023, 8% of all fatalities caused by a motor vehicle. Death of course is the worst case scenario.In that split moment that your eyes are not fully on the wheel, you could of course injure somebody, or cause damage to your car. According to the National Traffic Safety Administration, phone use is a contributing factor in 12% of all car accidents on US roads.
When a company car or vehicle is involved in an accident, it may be taken off of the road. The costs relating to this are higher than you would expect as not only does the car have to be fixed, insurance claims have to be filed, premiums go up and there is a period of time while the driver and the vehicle may be unavailable. This valuable time means that business comes to a standstill meaning a loss of earnings.
We all know that texting and driving is dangerous and we try to educate our children of the fact when they are driving. Yet when they see us on occasions even just glance at our phones as a message comes through, they learn from our example and not our words.
It is possible that distracted driving whilst texting may cause absolutely no outcome but it is most certainly dangerous and can lead to a potential accident which could result in a car being off the road, an insurance claim, a damaged vehicle, an injured driver or pedestrian and in the worst case scenario a fatality.
