With ever increasing demands on our personal and professional time in today's busy society, learning to juggle multiple tasks at once is something we all face daily. As a result, a new traffic safety epidemic has emerged on America's roadways that demands immediate attention: distracted driving.
In 2009 alone, nearly 5,500 people were killed and a half million more were injured in distracted driving crashes. One of the most alarming and widespread forms of distracted driving is cell phone usage. According to a Carnegie Mellon study, driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. And a report from the National Safety Council found that more than one out of every four traffic accidents is caused by people talking on cell phones or sending text messages.
Text messaging is of heightened concern because it combines three types of distraction- visual, manual and cognitive. In other words, texting involves taking your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, and your mind off the task of driving.
In Pennsylvania, text messaging while behind the wheel will be subject to primary enforcement, which allows officers to stop and cite offenders for that reason alone. Insurance companies can consider a cell phone and or texting violation as a moving violation for both underwriting and rating/surcharging purposes. Meaning, your auto insurance premiums will go up due to having these violations.
So the next time you are pressed for time, and it seems like multitasking in the car is the best decision, remember those 5,500 lives that were taken because someone decided they could do two things at once. A text or call is not worth your life, or anyone else's.
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