America has the highest percentage of distracted drivers.
More than two-thirds of Americans say that they’ve talked on a cell phone while driving in the past 30 days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently.
Additionally, nearly a third of the group surveyed admitted to texting while behind the wheel.
European countries also involved in the study fared much better with all of them reporting numbers well below the United State’s just under 70 percent figure. Most notable is Great Britain, reporting a comparatively scant 21 percent of its drivers engaged in mobile phone activities while on the road.
Spanish motorists also deserve kudos as only 15 percent of them reported texting while driving.
While laws against such activities exist in the majority of states in the US, they do not appear to act as much of a deterrent.
Nor do the staggering statistics on accidents caused by distracted drivers. In 2010 a team at the University of North Texas Health Science Center released their research findings concerning the matter. They reported that between 2001 and 2007 almost 16 thousand deaths had resulted from accidents caused by distracted cell phone users.
Add in other smart phone activities such as web surfing or status updating and the number of accidents caused by mobile devices skyrockets to an estimated 1 million per year, according to a 2011 study by State Farm Insurance.
State Farm also reported that those fiddling with their phones while driving are 23 times more likely to get into a collision.
