The Dangers of Distracted Driving

There isn’t a day that goes by that you can’t witness someone texting, talking on the phone, or even reading a book while driving. We have become a society that needs to be in instant communication. But, should this happen while driving a vehicle?

There are many laws that have recently changed regarding distracted driving in Illinois. The following are just a few:

The use of cell phones while driving in a school zone or in a construction zone is prohibited. For our younger drivers, the law prohibits the use of cells phones by any driver 19 years or younger.

How big is the problem?

• In 2009, more than 5,400 people died in crashes that were reported to involve a distracted driver and about 448,000 people were injured.¹
• Among those killed or injured in these crashes, nearly 1,000 deaths and 24,000 injuries included cell phone use as the major distraction.¹
• The proportion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of a fatal crash has increased from 7 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2009.¹
• When asked whether driving feels safer, less safe, or about the same as it did five years ago, more than 1 in 3 drivers say driving feels less safe today. Distracted driving—cited by 3 out of 10 of these drivers—was the single most common reason given for feeling less safe today.²

Distracted driving has become an epidemic that kills 15 people and injures 1,200 every day. We can prevent these crashes from happening through education and prevention.

There are several programs that work to educate our youthful drivers regarding distracted driving, but an education program called Operation Impact has assisted in lowering a community’s teen crash statistics.

is proud to be a presenter for Operation Impact, which has taught over 4,000 drivers education students the importance of safe driving. For more information feel free to contact us at 630-554-2285.