By the Numbers: Texting While Driving

Two-hundred thousand vehicle crashes a year are caused by text-messaging while driving. The number of crashes caused by all cell phone use is 1.6 million. A person is 23.2 times more likely to be in a crash while texting. These numbers are staggering, and with 270 million cell phone subscriptions in the United States, they are only going to get worse.

John Ulczycki, of the National Safety Council out of Chicago, addressed the House and Senate Transportation Committee meetings today. Mr. Ulczycki is an Iowa native and said texting while driving is an issue that causes him as well as the NSC grave concern. The NSC is a membership council whose members include cities, organizations, and employers. It represents 20,000 members, 50,000 employers and 8 million employees. It truly represents a cross section of American businesses.

The NSC decided to take a position on the issue of text messaging while driving, and over 500 NSC members companies have prohibited employees from using cell phones while driving. Initially, employers were concerned about decreased productivity of employees, but this has not proved to be the case. Millions of people in the United States are already under some sort of prohibition of using cell phones while driving. Eighty per cent of the nation is in support of a texting ban.

Texting while driving represents a distraction unique from other driving distractions such as reading newspapers or yelling at kids in the back seat – these distractions are not the cause of 200,000 vehicle accidents each year. When a specific behavior causes that much harm, legislation prohibiting it is warranted, Mr. Ulczycki formulated.

Laws actually make a difference in changing peoples’ behavior, whereas we’ve learned in the past, that education alone is not enough. In 1971 a massive campaign was launched in effort to educate the public about the need to use safety belts in vehicles. Ten years and over a million dollars later, seat belt use was the same as it was in the 70’s at 14 per cent. After seat belt laws were passed in the 80’s, seat belt use is now at 84 per cent. This exemplifies the need for legislation banning texting, education on the dangers simply is not enough.

Just today, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a ban on texting while driving for commercial truck drivers and school bus drivers nationwide. Nineteen states already have a ban on texting while driving. Let’s put Iowa in the lead among them.