Distracted driving is dangerous

Posted in Car accidents on April 13, 2011

Distracted driving in Tennessee is dangerous. The United States Department of Transportation has produced a nice website, The Faces of Distracted Driving, which highlights the problem. The site has interesting statistics and compelling stories.

• In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. Distracted driving comes in various forms, such as cell phone use, texting while driving, eating, drinking, talking with passengers, as well as using in-vehicle technologies and portable electronic devices.
• Police-reported data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the National Automotive Sampling show that:
• In 2009, there were 30,797 fatal crashes in the United States, which involved 45,230 drivers. In those crashes 33,808 people died.
• In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction (16% of total fatalities).
• The proportion of fatalities reportedly associated with driver distraction increased from 10 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2009. During that time, fatal crashes with reported driver distraction also increased from 10 percent to 16 percent.
• The portion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of the fatal crashes increased from 7 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2009.
• The under-20 age group had the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes (16%). The age group with the next greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the 20- to-29-year-old age group – 13 percent of all 20-to-29-year-old drivers in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted.
• Of those drivers reportedly distracted during a fatal crash, the 30-to-39-year-old drivers were the group with the greatest proportion distracted by cell phones. Cell phone distraction was reported for 24 percent of the 30-to-39-year-old distracted drivers in fatal crashes.
• Light-truck drivers and motorcyclists had the greatest percentage of total drivers reported as distracted at the time of the fatal crash (12% each). Bus drivers had the lowest percentage (6%) of total drivers involved in fatal crashes that were reported as distraction-related.
• An estimated 20 percent of 1,517,000 injury crashes were reported to have involved distracted driving in 2009.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a distracted driver, call our Nashville injury attorneys today for a free consultation at 615-256-8880 or you can send a message from our website.