40,000 Dead Every Year On U.S. Roadways

Oliver Broudy writes about this morbid car crash statistic in the December 2009 issue of Men’s Health. Broudy cites the Natioanl Highway Trafic Safety Administration (NTSA) for the 40,000 deaths annually on our nations roads along with a stunning 3.2 million injuries. With the proliferation of hand held portable digital assistents or PDA’s the problem with driver distraction is multiplying every day.

Broudy writes that 78% of all crashes are caused by driver distration (NTSA). What should be our number one responsibility, simply driving is now only part of what is going on behind the wheel for many distracted drivers. Now driver attention is being divided between the road, a Cafe Americano from Starbucks, a ringing cell phone or a text message we feel compelled to read. At 60 mph it takes 271 feet to stop a car, nearly the length of a football field (Edmunds.com).

Broudy cites the Virginia Tech Transportation Institue and writes a person has a “23X increase in crash-risk if you text while driving.”

Paul Kita, another contributor to the Men’s Health article entitled, “Dead Man Driving” writes, “In a recent review, Canadian researchers concluded that driving while talking on a headset is just as distracting as holding the phone to your ear. Yes, it’s tough to imagine hanging up when you head out, but your life literally depends on it. Use one of the call-blocking features offer by ZoomSafer (zoomsafer.com), which alert callers that you’re on the road and also can inform them of your whereabouts.”

The authors cite the University of Utah for the idea that only 2% of us can drive safely while multitasking. Not very good odds. We are all better off putting our cell phones and PDA’s in the trunk. Our drivers education teacher would agree too.