Texting while driving leads to traffic tangles, deaths
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As texting and "tweeting" become more popular, people use their mobile devices constantly, even while driving.
Along with checking a navigational system, changing the radio station and even eating while at the wheel, we are becoming a nation of dangerously distracted drivers.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration, distracted driving is a contributing factor in about a quarter of accidents reported to the police.
At a summit last fall addressing distracted driving, the NHTSA reported nearly 6,000 people died last year in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured. On any given day in 2008, more than 800,000 vehicles were driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone.
Gillian Mosier, RN, manager of the Backus Trauma Program, said people need to be more aware of what they are doing while driving.
She recently got rear-ended by a distracted driver herself.
"He admitted he had just looked down for a minute, and he had a cell phone in his hand when he got out of the car," she said. "It happens more often than people admit."
She urges people to use hands-free devices, which are required by law in Connecticut, and to use voice commands on their phone when dialing.
"Technology can be great, but it can cause problems as well," she said.
In the Emergency Department, she sees the impact injuries from auto accidents can have on people's lives, not only affecting their bodies but also causing emotional and financial distress for them and their families.
Lawmakers are starting to take action. Four bills are pending in Congress that would push states to regulate various types of cell phone use by drivers.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order in October, which took effect in January, barring 4 million federal workers from sending text messages while driving government vehicles. The directive also applies to privately owned vehicles, if the employee is on official business.
Three states started banning texting while behind the wheel starting Jan. 1: New Hampshire, Oregon and Illinois.
Connecticut approved a law in August 2008 prohibiting using hand-held cell phones or mobile electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle. This law includes devices for text messaging or paging, personal digital assistants and laptop computers.