Beautiful businesswoman sending a text while driving
Photo of a driver texting while driving

Apparently, swimming with sharks is safer than texting while driving. Discovery says that your chances of being killed by a shark are one in 11.5 million. As you will see later in this post, the rate of being killed in a distracted driving incident is far greater.

Diverting your eyes away from the road while driving for a couple of seconds can be the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, 3,300 people are killed every year in distracted driving accidents.

Texting while driving is the most common distraction, and it is killing about nine people every day.

Studio @ Gawker has compiled the rates of death for other activities and compared it to the rate of death for distracted driving:

What Is the Risk of Distracted Driving?

  • Scuba Diving Risk of Death: one in 200,000 dives
    • The primary dangers associated with scuba diving include changes in pressure such as decompression sickness and pulmonary embolism.
  • Skydiving Risk of Death: one in 101,083 jumps
    • Skydivers can reach speeds of 110 to 130 mph. Defective equipment or bad landings can result in serious injury or death.
  • Skiing Risk of Death: one in 1.6 million visits
    • Head injuries are the most common cause of death.
  • Football Risk of Death: one in 182,184 participants
    • This sport is very rough, because players impact each other at fast speeds.
  • Distracted Driving Risk of Death: one in 63,401 drivers
    • According to Studio @ Gawker, on average, distracted drivers divert their eyes from the road for five seconds. A car traveling at 55 mph will cover the length of a football field in that time.

We always stress the dangers of distracted driving on our blog, because we have represented many clients that were victims of distracted drivers.

Help keep our roads safe by devoting your full attention to driving.

Did You Know? According to Distraction.gov, 78 percent of teens and young adults say they have read an SMS message while driving.

The Law Offices of Aaron Allison – Austin Personal Injury Attorney

Source: http://studioatgawker.kinja.com/texting-and-driving-youd-be-safer-swimming-with-sharks-1624097577

Aaron Allison