This piece of information will most certainly alarm loads of people. Well, cellcontrol declared that a new study performed by odbEdge reveals that most drivers apparently still use their handsets while they are driving. Even though, it’s supposedly confirmed to be as risky as drinking and driving, it seems to have no effect on mobile users.
This study took place in the week of December 14, 2009. It was conducted with the motive to find out people’s opinions concerning distracted driving. Reportedly, around 100 people participated in this study. Approximately 88 percent of the drivers confessed to using mobile phone while driving in the past 1 year. Whether it is taking, texting or surfing the web, they did it all. Apart from mobile phones, around 45.9% in the survey claimed to use GPS system the most while they are driving.
Nevertheless, almost 75 percent of the same group was also of the same opinion that intoxicated driving and texting are evenly unsafe. Even though, this displays awareness among people, drivers supposedly still don’t grasp the fact that distracted driving is alleged to be 23 times more risky as compared to drinking and driving. Even though the awareness and laws campaigns are progressing quite well, the study exhibits that roughly 72 percent of drivers carry on driving along with being distracted by their handsets. The mobile phone usage bans while driving appears to not affect them at all. Supposedly around 27.7% of the people had their friends or family members involved in accidents due to distracted driving.
Leigh Gilly, Director of Business Development of cellcontrol, commented, “Cell phone use and driving is still a safety problem on our roadways and that’s why at cellcontrol our main objective is to help parents, friends, employers, etc., protect those they care about with technology that is easy and simple to use. We are aimed at preventing driving while distracted to help reduce the over 500,000 injury-resulting accidents each year caused by mobile phones and other technologies used while driving.”
A solution like cellcontrol, which functions by plugging into a car’s on-board computer and utilizes a downloadable application and Bluetooth technology to pair to the handset, could be an alternative to assist in keeping drivers protected on the road and curtail the practice of distracted driving.
Teenagers are said to form majority of this problem even though this issue is prevalent across all age groups. If a choice is given, the findings of the survey claims that approximately 65 percent of parents would put their doubts to rest with technology to put off their children from distracted driving. Around 60 percent of parents supposedly would buy a specific phone if they had the capability to manage distracted driving as a feature option.
Moreover, over 75 percent would make use of technology to limit use of mobile phones while driving if they were given a concession on their automobile insurance premium. Roughly 53.6% of them were even willing to change their insurance carrier if a different carrier provided a discount that eventually saved money for the application of technology to discontinue distracted driving.
All we can say is that distracted driving is very dangerous and ought to be stopped immediately.