Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Driving is one of the most courageous choices we make every day. As handheld access to technology increases, driving becomes even more complicated.
End Text Wrecks is actively pursuing a more text-free drive. End Text Wrecks is a campaign to end texting and driving by dancing "the wookie" and pledging to stop texting and driving.
After reviewing a survey taken by KSL readers, there have been some interesting findings.
For easier understanding, we broke down results into three different sections: the truly awful driver, the mediocre driver and the safe driver.
Awful: Whoa! Should you even be driving?
Though the minority of readers fit in this box, it is pretty high at 17 percent.
Out of all readers who took the survey, 45 percent admit they drive above the speed limit. Granted, it is easy to do but it is still not justifiable.
In addition, 10 percent of readers admitted to causing an accident due to distractions. These distractions include and are not limited to making phone calls, listening to and choosing music, focusing on navigation apps, and reading and sending texts.
Fourteen percent even admitted to checking their phone every time it buzzed or rang. Depending on your popularity, that could be every couple seconds!
The crazy thing is that about 30 percent of these "awful drivers" have been victims of other driver's distractions. That's a lot of easily prevented accidents.
Mediocre: You're not the best, but you're not the worst either.
Forty-two percent of readers fit in the mediocre driver category. There could be some improvement. Investing in some extra practice time in an empty parking lot might be good. Until then, they should start being a little more careful. Just a pointer...
Of all the readers, 12 percent experienced several close calls when it comes to causing an accident by distracted driving. Never were they at fault in a distraction-induced accident and their defensive driving saved them from a lot of insurance phone calls.
Within this category, common distractions may include listening to music, focusing on navigation apps, and occasionally checking the phone at stop lights (which includes 48 percent of these readers).
Safe: Thanks for being a safe driver!
About 41 percent are nearly perfect drivers. That is pretty good. (Though how much better would it be if that statistic was above 50 percent?)
One reason why this statistic is so low is because about 38 percent of these readers don't check their phones while driving. For the rest of us, it's almost habitual to check that buzz or ringtone. We've been conditioned to react quickly to those alerts. This reaction, though, could cost someone their life.
Even better news, about 55 percent of readers drive at or below the speed limit, though! That's a lot more than it sometimes feels when driving on the highway. With all the distracted drivers out there, this might negate some of the damage done.
Something wildly comforting is that 77 percent of these safe drivers have never been at fault in an accident due to distractions. That is an impressive statistic. It does not mean that you will never get in an accident. It just means that if more people fit into this category and limit their distractions while driving, getting in a car would not be such a daily risk.
End texting while driving
One of the most dangerous distractions is texting. About 27 percent of readers read texts while driving and 16 percent sent texts. That is too many.
We challenge you to dance the wookie and pledge to stop texting and driving. Here's to a safer drive and a more comfortable highway.
