What is Distracted Driving?

Did you know that reaching for your phone while driving increases your risk of crashing by NINE times?

Distracted driving is when a driver visually takes their eyes off the road, physically takes their hands off the wheel, or cognitively takes their mind off driving.

America’s Obsession With Mobile Devices

Mobile devices are popular and for many good reasons. We can connect with our family and friends, email for work, and even open our home’s door lock with them. As convenient as these devices are, they cause distracted driving and can be very dangerous when used while driving.

Slipping your hand off the steering wheel to grab your phone to call or send a text is a dangerous practice that over 600,000 drivers are guilty of, each day. Even though these drivers know the dangers, they still reach for their phones. Please remember, when you want to read a text or answer a call, it can wait.

Shocking Statistics of Distracted Driving

  • Distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 3,450 lives in 2016 alone.
  • Texting takes longer than you might think. Texting does not take ‘just a second’ as many think. Texting takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds, enough time to drive the length of a football field. That is certainly enough time to crash your car and potentially hurt someone.
  • Texting takes your eyes off the road and limits your peripheral vision and awareness of your surroundings.
  • Texting requires your hands to be off the wheel, delaying your response time in the event an emergency occurs.
  • Cell phone use while driving is the cause of 1.6 million crashes per year.
  • Texting while driving causes one out of every four crashes, and 18% of all fatal car crashes occur due to texting while driving.
  • Nine people will die today due to distracted driving.
  • Replying to a text message takes your eye off the road for 5 seconds.
  • Your family and friends need your support when they are driving. Remind them that texting is not good practice, and their messages or replies can wait until their car reaches a full stop.
  • 94% of drivers support a ban on texting.
  • 74% of drivers support a ban on cell phone use.
  • Texting while driving is nine times more likely to cause a car crash than driving under the influence. Distracted driving is the ‘new drunk driving.
  • Your teen driver is at risk. 40% of teens admit to texting while driving. Combine this with inexperience and hormones, and there lies a deadly combination.
  • When others text and drive, they are putting your life and your family’s lives at risk.
  • Cell phones are addictive. A recent study claims 70% of all people cannot go without their phones for 24 hours. Even while driving, cell phones remain close to their owner.
  • Texting while driving is illegal. Distracted driving is not legal in any state. If an accident occurs and you are found to have been texting, you will face charges. If it is a fatal accident, you can be charged with murder.
  • Both genders text while driving equally.
  • Solo drivers tend to text more. Locking your phone or enabling the distracted driving application on your phone can save your life and the lives of the others on the road with you.

Solutions to Texting and Driving

Drivers know to text while driving is a problem since it distracts them, and distracted driving is dangerous. The same technology that created this distracted driving problem can also solve it.

Distracted Driving Prevention Technology –

  • A Text-Free Driving Kit is a fun and rewarding solution to texting while driving. Providing drivers with some tools to reduce driving distractions and incentives helps drivers break the texting while driving habit. You will get the connected car adapter, TextNinja Pledge, Motivate App.
  • Hands-Free Devices, while a better option, can still be distracting. You can set up your car’s hands-free Bluetooth system to make and receive calls. You can use voice commands to send and reply to text messages.
  • The Phone Dock puts your phone in an easy-to-view place and is used while your phone navigates you from one location to another.
  • Pledge Cards Raise awareness of the texting while driving problem and signing it shows acknowledgment that you do text while driving. Admission brings acceptance which is an essential step toward change.
  • Texting Thumb Bands provide a visual to help you stay focused on the road and not your phone.
  • TextNinja App is THE headquarters in the battle against distracted driving. By providing resources and content covering statistics and solutions for texting and driving, we increase awareness of the dangers of texting while driving.
  • Stop Text Messages at the Network Level by working with your cell phone carrier to implement network solutions to receiving and sending texts while driving.
  • *Take the pledge today to not drive distracted.

The Gordon Agency

This is the home of Florida’s Insurance Professionals. We are a multi-line independent agency that provides insurance solutions for both personal and commercial lines—combining decades of relationship building with motivated licensed insurance agents to offer coverage options for all of your insurance needs. Our team of agents relies on our education, integrity, experience, and attention to detail to accurately assess each opportunity and offer the optimal solutions for our clients. We are dedicated to matching the right product for every situation, always at the best price available. Call us at 561-988-3330, visit our website or paste our address in your browser.

The Gordon Agency Inc.
1825 NW Corporate Blvd Ste 110,
Boca Raton, FL 33431
(561) 988-3330