Smartphones Are Causing Car Accidents

More and more drivers are purchasing smartphones to help run their lives and with this comes the temptation to use the phone while driving. It's no surprise that using your phone while driving is highly dangerous, but with so many drivers on the road trying to multitask, it's getting very scary.

The article "Use Smartphones Smartly Can Help Avoid Car Accidents" by Richard Burton on AutoQuoteNow's website says 72% of people using their phone while driving say work related items encourage them to check their phone while on the road. About 33% are tempted to use the phone while driving to check social sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Many others check personal business items such as bank statements, auto insurance bills and to-do lists while operating a vehicle.

In the last few years, fatalities from accidents caused by multitaskers has increased dramatically despite numerous laws put into place to stop texting while driving. Smartphones are an amazing invention and offer many benefits to our societies, but the temptation to use the phone while driving is one of the dangerous downfalls. Awareness is on the rise and more and more people are committing to leaving their phone alone while driving. Hopefully those numbers will increase rather than fatal accidents from those who text while driving.

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Most auto insurance companies use driving record information determining your auto insurance rates. According to the recent article "Are You Driving Distracted, and is Your Auto Insurance Suffering" found on lexch.com, even non-fatal car accidents are detrimental to have on your driving record. Driving safely will end up saving you a lot of money over time, and makes it well worth your time to compare car insurance rates.

According to Distraction.gov, the official US Government site for distracted driving, there are three types of driving distractions which are visual, manual and cognitive. In 2008, distracted drivers caused around 5870 deadly auto accidents. This is a scary statistic which should motivate everyone to stop driving distractions such as talking on the phone, texting while driving, or eating. Having a conversation with a passenger or fiddling with music stations can cause accidents as well.

Before you compare car insurance quotes, be sure to know where your driving record stands. Tickets, accidents and mos DUI's do fall off your record over time, but it's important to understand that the safer you drive, the less likely you are to be in a crash and pay higher auto insurance premiums. Not to mention you can save lives if you are a very safe driver. There are many reasons to drive safely, and no good reason to risk lives and have any unnecessary distractions while driving.

Auto Insurance Company's Study Finds Under 30s Using iPods While Driving, Increasing Risk

A press release from the Australian auto insurance company NRMA Insurance about a recent research study finds that nearly half of all drivers under 30 use mp3 players, such as iPods, while driving.

The insurer claims that searching for songs or adjusting playlists can make the devices more distracting than a CD player or radio. NRMA recommends creating playlists beforehand, so you're focused on the road instead of on choosing tracks. 

Worst of all, 17% actually wear headphones when they're driving! Doing so makes it extremely likely that they won't hear traffic signals or even emergency sirens. Being distracted for as little as one second can result in a car accident causing bodily injury, death, and/or skyrocketing auto insurance premiums.

Although the research was done in Australia, I would expect these statistics to be similar in the United States and other similar cultures, given the general risk-taking of many young drivers worldwide.