NCDOT: Distracted Driving Second Most Common Cause Of NC Car Accidents

A recent North Carolina newspaper editorial brings up an interesting point this week – should texting while driving bans be a no-brainer? The statistic prove that texting while driving leads to car accidents – according to NCDOT, 5,870 people are killed each year in the United States because of distracted driving and another 515,000 people suffer serious injuries because someone is talking, texting, or otherwise distracted while behind the wheel. In addition, several recent studies have confirmed that texting while driving exponentially increases your chance of crashing while driving.

Finally, a number of people and organizations are rising up to fight the problem. Oprah Winfrey has launched a no-cell phone crusade complete with a no talking behind the wheel pledge. At the same time, activist Jennifer Smith has started the group FocusDriven, which fights against diving distractions the same way that MADD fights against drunk driving.

We can hope that the recent attention brought to this big problem makes a difference and the number of distraction-related car accidents in North Carolina goes down.