Texans against Texting & Driving

In this issue, we seek to add our voices to the many in our community and state who are speaking out against the dangers of distracted driving. Whether you agree or not with the need for laws to make distracted driving illegal, the facts regarding the dangers of this behavior are sobering and staggering.

We, at Integrated Counseling and Wellness pledge, to not text and drive!

Consider the following sobering statistics:

-In 2011, 23% of auto crashes involved cell phones (1.3 million crashes).

-The minimal amount of time your attention is taken away from the road when you’re driving and texting is 5 seconds, which at 55mph=the length of a football field without looking at the road.

-Texting makes a crash 23X more likely.

-13% of drivers age 18-20 involved in car wrecks admitted to texting or talking on their phones at the time of the crash.

-Teens who text while driving spend approximately 10% of their driving time outside of their lane.

What about adults?

-48% of drivers have seen their parent(s)drive while talking on a cell phone.

-15% of young drivers have seen their parent(s)text while driving.

-27% of adults have sent or received text messages while driving.

-48% of kids age 12-17 have been in a car while the driver has been texting.

-1 in 5 drivers of all ages confess to surfing the web while driving.

Texting While Driving Causes:

-1,600,000 accidents per year (National Safety Council)

-330,000 injuries per year (Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study)

-11 teen deaths EVERY DAY (Ins. Institute for Hwy Safety Fatality Facts)

The members of our team at Integrated Counseling and Wellness live and work in Idaho, Texas, and other locations. Our children attend schools here. The safety of our families and yours are of paramount importance to us. We invite all to seriously consider the risks of distracted driving and pledge to go text-free along with the young drivers in our families.