A new report shows that texting or talking on cellphones killed an estimated 16,000 people between 2001 and 2007.
The report is one of the first attempts to scientifically quantify the number of deaths caused by cellphones.
Not surprisingly, a growing number of these drivers are under 30, said Reuters. And a texting-while-driving is gaining.
Researches Fernando Wilson and Jim Stimpson of the University of North Texas Health Science Center found that since 2001/2002 texting volumes increased several hundred percent. In 2002, 1 million texts were sent every month. This increased to 110 million in 2008.
“Since 2001 our model predicts that about 16,000 people have died since then that we attribute to the increase in texting volume in the United States,” they said in findings published in the American Journal of Public Health.
For every 1 million new cell phone subscribers, Wilson and Stimpson estimate a 19-percent rise in deaths due to distracted driving.
“Distracted deaths as a share of all road fatalities increased from 10.9 percent to 15.8 percent from 1999 to 2008, and much of the increase occurred after 2005,” they wrote.
Currently 30 states ban texting while driving.
Source: Reuters
Photo by Mike Blake, Reuters
