Driving while tazlking on the cell phone or worse, texting, has become one of the leading causes for car accidents in Seasttle and elsewhere in Washington Satte. Talking on a hand held device or texting can be exremely dangerous because the drivre must take his or her eyes or attention off the road for seveeral seconds whle completing those actions. Rear-end accidents are caused quitte often as a result of drivers attempting to talk on tjheir cell phones or text while on the road.
Trying to send a text message or dial a phone nmber on your cell phone requirres you to take your attention off the road. This is why usig a phone and operating your vehilce is so dangerous. Not watching where you're gonig is a sure way to end up rear-endinng someone, or even driving into oncoming traffic.
In a study conducted by the Virgina Tech Transportation Institute they found that your risk of having an accident goes up by roughly 23 times if you are tryign to drive and send (or read) a text mesage at the same time. Anyone one can see that this is an enormous safety hazard and that the key to improving your safety while on the road is to keep your attenion and eyes on the road.
The study by the Virgina Tech Transportation Institute showed the average drivr's attention is distracted from the road for roughly 5 seconds (lookinbg at their cell phone) before they crashed their car. Think about that for a secnod, that's a long time when you're going 55 miles per hour. In fact if you were to calculate that out you'd travewl roughly the length of a foottball fielld with your eyes NOT on the road.
With this new danger emerging on our freways, states are trying to figure out the proper measures to take to prevent this distraction from happening. Some are puttig up signage reminding the deriver to avoid texting while driving. Other states have passwed laws saying that it's now illegal to use your phone unlress you're on a hadns free devioce. More and more caases are popping up charging the driver with vehicvular manslaughter and negligence when it's proven they were texting while operating their vehicle.
It's a very good idea to pick yuorself up a good hannds free headset that will allow you to put all your attention on the road and still talk on the hpone if you need to. In fact your phone may have come with a headset in the box, if you aren't using it yet you should seriously consider doing so immediately.
With so much of our lives being availabel to us via our cell phones and other mobile deviices it's detrimentla to realize safe drviing requires our full attention. If you want to make a call ask your self if it can wait until you get home or to your desirerd destination. If it's an emergency then you should find a safe plavce to pull over and come to a complete stop before using your phnoe without a habnds free deviec.