NSC Estimates a Quarter of 1.4M Crashes Involve Cell Phones

The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that a quarter of the 1.4 million crashes in the US involve some kind of cell phone use.

In addition, there are 6,000 fatalities a year caused by distracted driving that link cell phones as the possible reason.

The NSC recently released a white paper focusing on distractions and how the human brain copes with multitasking. The paper, titled, "Understanding the distracted brain: Why driving while using hands-free cell phones is risky behavior" explains the limitations of the brain specifically in terms of driving safely while using a cell phone either to talk, text or email.

Referencing more than 30 scientific studies and reports, the paper describes how using a cell phone, hands-free or handheld not only impairs driving performance, but also weakens the brain's ability to capture driving cues.

For example, drivers who use cell phones have a form of inattention blindness - they have a tendency to "look at" but not "see" up to 50% of their surroundings. Distracted drivers have trouble seeking and identifying potential hazards, and responding to unexpected situations on time. So, it's no wonder that distracted driving is a lethal problem.

Part of the problem is that although most drivers believe using a cell phone while driving is dangerous, still 11% of all drivers are using cell phones, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports.

There are efforts to curbe cell phone use across states, and laws restricting their use while driving are slowly spreading. So far, no state bans all cell phone use by all drivers, but 25 states and the District of Columbia ban all cell phone use by novice drivers.

Also, bus drivers in 18 states (including Massachusetts), and D.C. are banned from using a cell phone when passengers are present.

Further more, 25 states, including New Hampshire, ban texting while driving. However, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, only 7 states and D.C. also ban drivers from talking on handheld devices.

The NSC white paper shows that this is not enough and drivers need to be aware of the dangers they face every time they pick up the phone while driving.

Keeping eyes on the road instead of on their cell phone screen is the safest thing drivers can do to protect their lives, their passengers and other drivers.