{"id":22408,"date":"2015-05-20T10:47:31","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T14:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.njstateauto.com\/general-auto-news\/distracted-driving-a-leading-cause-of-accidents\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:41:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:41:37","slug":"distracted-driving-a-leading-cause-of-accidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.njstateauto.com\/blog\/distracted-driving-a-leading-cause-of-accidents\/","title":{"rendered":"Distracted driving: A leading cause of accidents"},"content":{"rendered":"

Distracted driving has been an issue\u00a0with motorists since the dawn of the age of the automobile. Early traffic enforcement agencies were\u00a0concerned with drivers reading their mail<\/a>, and when windshield wipers came out, people were worried the regular motion would put drivers to sleep or hypnotize them, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Even car radios were expected to create\u00a0trouble – when car makers began installing them in the 1930s, legislators made moves to ban them for fear that they would cause crashes.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, as the technological age has provided people\u00a0with mobile devices that never leave their\u00a0hands and onboard computers that offer\u00a0a range of services inside the vehicle, distracted driving has remained a huge problem, especially for young drivers.<\/p>\n

\n

“Distracted driving caused 16% of all crashes in 2012.”<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Distracted driving in the modern age<\/strong>
\nStudies in the 1970s concluded that distracted driving was the cause of 15 percent of all crashes, and that number has remained relatively\u00a0consistent –\u00a016 percent of all auto crashes in 2012 were attributed to distracted driving, the IIHS reported. While current campaigns are focusing on cellphone\u00a0usage as the No. 1 distraction for drivers,\u00a0a number of other\u00a0factors can distract drivers as\u00a0well. Of all the\u00a0distraction-related deaths in 2012, 88 percent were attributed to something other than a cellphone.<\/p>\n

The Erie Insurance company partnered with the IIHS to conduct an analysis of data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System to look closer at driver distractions<\/a> other than cellphone usage.\u00a0The researchers\u00a0found that 62 percent of distracted drivers between 2010 and 2011 reported being generally distracted or lost in thought.\u00a0Cellphone usage was\u00a0the next leading cause at 12 percent, followed by rubbernecking – or starting at something outside the vehicle – at 7 percent and distraction by passengers in the vehicle at 5 percent.<\/p>\n

But because the numbers are based on police opinions filed in reports from crash scenes and drivers that may have been dishonest about their true distractions, there’s a chance many of the “generally distracted” drivers were focusing on something other than their daydreams. While that points to a wide range of potential distracters,\u00a0statistics presented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seem to indicate cellphone usage as the likely culprit in many distracted driving accidents, even if it isn’t always\u00a0reported as such.<\/p>\n

\"ManDistracted driving has caused far more accidents than it should.<\/p>\n

Texting and driving causes accidents<\/strong>
\nAccording to the NHTSA, people in the U.S. and all its territories were sending an average of\u00a0153.3 billion text messages per month<\/a>\u00a0as of December 2013.\u00a0That same year, 3,154 people were killed, and an additional 424,000 were injured, in accidents\u00a0caused by distracted driving. An\u00a0average of 660,000 U.S. drivers can be caught using their cellphones while driving at any given moment during the day.\u00a0Cellphones, more often than not, have become the center of our attention, and this is particularly a huge problem among teenagers\u00a0who drive.<\/p>\n

The NHTSA reported that traffic crashes are the leading cause of teenage deaths<\/a>, and 10\u00a0percent of traffic fatalities in people under 20 years old\u00a0were the result of distracted driving. While the NHTSA cites numerous reasons for teenage distractions – such as grooming, eating, using\u00a0navigation systems and even\u00a0watching videos – texting is by far the worst distraction for anyone. It requires\u00a0one\u00a0hand to do the typing, the\u00a0eyes to guide the hand and read messages, and the brain to focus on the conversation. The average time spent looking at a text conversation while driving is about five\u00a0seconds,\u00a0and at 55 mph, that’s the equivalent of driving the entire length of a football field blindfolded, the NHTSA reported. The result is a staggering amount of unnecessary deaths and injuries, which\u00a0prompted a huge campaign by lawmakers and transportation safety groups to try and stop cellphone-related accidents.<\/p>\n

\n

“Traffic crashes are the leading cause of teenage deaths.”<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

How to stop it<\/strong>
\nMany legislators have sought to hinder distracted driving by passing laws banning all cellphone use. Forty-five states in the U.S. have banned texting while driving altogether<\/a>, and 40 of those consider it a primary law – which means officers don’t need any other reason to pull\u00a0drivers\u00a0over\u00a0if they are using a\u00a0cellphone, according to the NHTSA.<\/p>\n

But the IIHS reported that while cellphone bans while driving have dropped the percentage of observed drivers on their cellphones, the number of crashes has not decreased<\/a> as expected. This may be because drivers who switch to hands-free calling are still too distracted by their conversations, or perhaps bans just encourage people to be more discreet while using their phones\u00a0behind the wheel. Whatever the case, the automobile industry is taking preventative measures of their own.<\/p>\n

Automakers are trying to help fight distracted driving through the use of front crash prevention technology. The IIHS reported that as many as 1.9 million crashes could be prevented<\/a> in the future if all vehicles were equipped with high-performance prevention systems. But it may take up to 30\u00a0years for the auto industry to fully adopt such features as standard on all vehicles – at the rate of distracted driving deaths in 2013,\u00a0just under 95,000 lives that may be lost in that time.\u00a0That’s a long time to wait for an entire industry to help prevent people from getting into accidents because they weren’t paying attention.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that awareness and education will be the best ways to prevent driver distractions, and that falls on people taking responsibility for themselves. The NHTSA and other government agencies are calling on parents and teachers to educate their kids on driver safety. That also means adults need to lead by example, and show teenagers that it is not OK to text and drive or engage in other distracting behaviors while operating a vehicle.<\/p>\n

The National Safety Council has declared April as Districted Driving Awareness Month<\/a>, and there are plenty of ways to help spread awareness. Check out their website for more information, and remember – the stakes are far too high to get that last message in five minutes before arriving at home – it may cost a life.<\/p>\n

And don’t forget that avoiding distractions is only one piece of the driving safety puzzle. You can find a great used car loaded with safety features at New Jersey State Auto Auction<\/a> to help keep your family safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Distracted driving has been a concern with motorists since the dawn of the age of the automobile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":21920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDistracted driving: A leading cause of accidents<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Distracted driving has been a concern with motorists since the dawn of the age of the automobile.\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tt-blogs.dealerfire.com\/njstateauto\/distracted-driving-a-leading-cause-of-accidents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Distracted driving: A leading cause of accidents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Distracted driving has been a concern with motorists since the dawn of the age of the automobile.\" \/>\n<meta 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