Report: Cell Phones Cause More Accidents than Texting

01/19/2010

A new report is offering additional insight into just how dangerous distracted driving can be.

According to the National Safety Council, 1.6 million crashes are caused each year by drivers who are using cell phones or texting behind the wheel.

While texting is widely seen as being the most dangerous form of distracted driving because it involves drivers actually taking their eyes off the road, the report said that cell phones were far more of a problem.

Of the total number of distracted driving crashes, 1.4 million were said to have been caused by cell phone use while 200,000 were said to have been caused by texting.

In a statement, the organization's president and CEO, Janet Froetscher said that the disparity is probably due to the significantly higher number of people who talk on cell phones behind the wheel as opposed to texting. Texting behind the wheel is generally seen as more popular among the youngest drivers, although all age groups are responsible for the problem.

The data was released to highlight the one-year anniversary of the National Safety Council's call for a nationwide ban on using cell phones and texting devices behind the wheel.

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