Freshmen Bryanna Stoiber vividly remembers the day that her life drastically changed.
It was in the summer of 2008 when Stoiber, who was then 12 years old, crossed the street to return home from the park. She was visiting her dad’s house in Wisconsin and was going to get a water bottle for herself.
While Stoiber was crossing the street, a driver, distracted by a passenger, plowed around the corner at full speed with his car and hit her, leaving her unconscious for two days. The accident caused Stoiber numerous medical issues including a severe concussion, other mild head injuries, and a few cuts and bruises.
It’s exactly these kinds of mistakes caused by distractions that make up 25 percent of all car accidents that happen each year. Distracted driving has become a widespread and deadly epidemic.
According to a new U.S. Department of Transportation report, 5,474 people were killed in 2009 and an additional 448,000 were injured in distracted driving-related motor vehicle crashes on U.S. roadways. Of all of the age groups, drivers under the age of 20 had the greatest proportions of distracted driving, according to Allstate’s Keep the Drive (keepthedrive.org), which works to raise awareness about teenage distracted driving.
Some distracted driving cases have been shocking enough to make national headlines, including one on May 2, 2009, when 49-year-old Lora Hunt was painting her nails while driving in Lake Zurich, Ill., when she sped forward and rear-ended a motorcycle stopped at a red light, killing 56-year-old Anita Zaffke. Hunt was sentenced to 18 months in jail in July.
Yet such distracted driving happens on a day-to-day basis: drivers running red lights, swerving out of lanes, slamming on brakes because they are concentrating on something other than the road. People consistently assume that they can drive while texting, talking and eating without any risk of an accident.
Deputy Paul Warren of the Kane County Sherriff’s Office said that the most common distractions he’s seen include texting, talking on cell phones, surfing through radio stations and carpooling with too many friends.
Senior Nick Michels knows the dangers of distraction all too well. “Once, my friend tried to jump in my [car] window and I hit a fire hydrant,” Michels said.
Rowdy friends can be dangerous, but the number one cause of distracted driving accidents is using a cell phone while driving, which is proven to be just as deadly as drving while under the influence. A recent study at the University of Utah showed that the distraction of cell phone use from driving extends a driver’s reaction time as much as a blood alcohol concentration level of 0.8, the same as having about three drinks.
Drivers who use their cell phones while driving are also four times more likely to get into serious crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, of all people injured in distracted driving-related crashes, 24,000 involved the driver using a cell phone in 2009.
Car accidents resulting from distracted driving are easily preventable. Warren suggests that students should pay attention, avoid distractions, drive defensively and be prepared for anything.
Stoiber has recovered from the car accident, but she still has two scars visibly remaining, one on her kneecap and the other on her right ear, wears a hearing aid, and has bad migraines. She was wearing a helmet when the accident happened, and it saved her life, but the traumatizing effects it’s had on her life may never go away.
“I’ve learned to live life to its fullest, because any day could be the last,” Stoiber said. “Don’t distract yourself while driving, because it could take your life and someone else’s.”