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January 7, 2008 by Steve.
A survey by Liberty Mutual Group and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) showed that teens considered sending text messages via cell phones to be their biggest driving distraction. Of the teens surveyed, 37% said that text messaging was extremely or very distracting, while 20% said that they were distracted by their emotional states, and 19% said that having friends in the car was distracting. A January 2007 survey by Nationwide found that 19% of motorists say they text message while driving.
The federal government estimates that 30% of all crashes in the United States involve driver distraction. Inattentive driving accounted for 6.4% of crash fatalities in 2003 (the latest data available), according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. While cell phones and text messaging top the list, distractions also include radios, palm pilots, laptops, navigational aides, eating, drinking, grooming, reading, writing, television watching, and attending to children. In November, New Jersey became the second state after Washington to ban driving while texting.
Many companies are now establishing cell phone usage policies because of their concern that they may be held liable for accidents caused by their employees while driving and conducting work-related conversations on cell phones. Some policies state that employees can conduct business over the phone as long as they pull over to the side of the road or into a parking lot. Other companies have completely banned the use of all wireless devices in the car.
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