The boom of smartphones and texting at the turn of the millennium came with a darker side.
According to statistics from the National Safety Council, people using their cell phones while driving in Provo, Utah and other cities led to 1.6 million car accidents in 2013, and 11 teenagers died every day as a direct result of texting and driving. Just think of the millions of people who had to hire a lawyer and a funeral director in order to deal with the inconceivable loss they had to endure after their accident.
Those startling numbers led to 45 states from Utah to New York putting a ban on texting while driving, and companies like Google developed apps which stopped you from texting so you can avoid an auto accident.
But did the bans even help reduce car accidents? For the most part, yes.
Researchers discovered that auto accident hospitalization dropped down for states who enacted a ban, but the states who benefited the most from lower hospital and death rates were states that made texting while driving a primary offense. Making texting while driving a primary offense means a police officer can pull you over just for using your phone while driving.
Making texting and driving a primary offense has led to thousands of drivers from Provo and other Utah cities to not have to call a lawyer to help deal with the after effects of an auto accident from texting.
But whether you’re driving in Provo or Farmington, you still have to hold to yourself accountable for texting and driving. If you do text while driving, you’re risking at the very least hiring a lawyer to deal with damages, but at the very worst, you could lose your life or the life of someone you care about.