Have you ever had to swerve around another car drifting into your lane and when you pass them by you see they are intently gazing into the glow of their phone? According to statistics, this is a likely scenario on the road.
Around 660,000 drivers are occupied by an electronic device right now, at this very moment…and now…and now—you get the picture. At any given moment there is a driver playing with their phone and as a result of this there were around 1.3 million traffic accidents caused by distracted driving.
This has become such a problem in the United States, Washington State and Seattle, that a new driving adjective has emerged…“intexticated.”
Intoxicated by the chime of an incoming text drivers get distracted. “Intexticated” driving takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 5 seconds at a time. That’s the equivalent to the length of a football field when a person is driving an average of 55 miles per hour.
Texting while driving increases the likelihood of a crash by 23 times! However, it is not just texting that distracts drivers and causes traffic accidents. Dialing, talking, emails, Internet surfing, and even just reaching for your phone are all culprits as well.
Teenagers are especially prone to “intexication.” Of Americans age 16 to 17 years of age, 82% own cell phones and over a third of those teenagers admit to texting while driving. But we can’t just blame young drivers on these terrifying statistics because kids do what they see adults do. Twenty-seven percent of adults have sent or received a text message while driving. And nearly half of all kids aged 12 to 17 have been in the car while the driver was texting.
Texting while driving is a real danger on the road. Even when you refrain from “intexticated” driving others drivers may not. If you or someone you know have been injured by a texting driver in Seattle or anywhere in Washington, contact The Hornbuckle Firm or dial (425) 679-0742 to talk with a skilled attorney about your traffic accident!
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Bellevue, Washington 98007
Phone: (425) 679-0742
