Texting and Driving By Mariah Vigil and Nayeli

Texting and Driving By: Mariah Vigil and Nayeli Marquez Multimedia P. 1 due date Nov. 21

Driving while in. TEXTicated 60% of drivers use cell phones while driving 1, 600, 000 accidents per year 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY More than 3, 000 teens die annually from texting while driving

Fatal accidents • 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. • In 2009, 448, 000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. • Distracted driving is the number one killer of American teens. teenage traffic fatalities have remained unchanged because distracted driving is on the rise.

Not just Teens • The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group. 16% of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving • 49% of drivers with cell phones under the age of 35 send or read text messages while driving. • Using a cell phone while driving, whether it's handheld or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of. 08 percent

Hand-held or hands-free? • Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves • Using a cell phone while driving, whether it's handheld or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of. 08 percent

Texting vs. non texting drivers • A texting driver is 23 times more likely to get into a crash than a non-texting driver • Driving while Texting Six Times More Dangerous than Driving while Drunk

A true story • Five years ago on a bright June day, then-20 - year-old Amanda Kloehr went about her usual cell phone routine: "Updating my Facebook status, reading other people's updates, and texting, " she says. But she wasn't at home or even in class—she was behind the wheel of her car, cruising down U. S. Route 13 at a highway speed. Amanda couldn't have known that moments later her distracted driving would cause her to slam into the tractor-trailer in front of her with enough force to push the entire vehicle forward six feet. "I shouldn't have lived, " she says now, still shaken. "I could have been decapitated. " Instead, Amanda lost her right eye. It took 36 plates and 48 screws to rebuild her face. And more than 20 surgeries later, the road to recovery still stretches out before her. "I'm in pain everywhere all the time, " she says, "but I know I'm lucky to be alive. "