1. Texting while driving, To do or NOT to do? By: Jennifer M. Richards

2. Distracted Driving! Is an act of which you are engaged in anything other then driving, which can lead to distraction and increase your risk for an accident Examples could be: Texting, eating, grooming, reading maps, using a GPS/Navigation system, talking to other passengers, using other electronic devices

3. Main Types of distracted driving Visual — because you are taking your focus off the road using your eyes to text Manual — taking your hands off the wheel to press buttons causes you to physically be distracted Cognitive — Instead of focusing on driving a vehicle, you are distracted by thinking of the conversation you are sending or receiving.

4. Who is texting and driving? Men Women Adults Teenagers 18 to 34 years of age

5. What can happen to those who text and drive? According to the AAOS, people that are driving a moving vehicle and texting on a cellular device risk being in a accident harm others on the road severe orthopedic traumas or death

6. How many accidents are caused Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted driver, and more than half a million were injured. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2009: 20% of injury crashes involved reports of distracted driving. Of those killed in distracted- driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction

7. Texting & Driving Statistics Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) Of all cell phone related tasks – including talking, dialing, or reaching for the phone – texting while driving is the most dangerous.

8. …Con’t Statistics 48% of young Americans from 12-17 say they've been in a car while the driver was texting For every 6 seconds of drive time, a driver sending or receiving a text message spends 4.6 of those seconds with their eyes off the road. This makes texting the most distracting of all cell phone related tasks.

9. References - American Academy of Orthapedic, S. (2010, April 1). Texting while driving is a distraction – don. Retrieved from http://www6.aaos.org/about/pemr/psa/2010/2010pri nts_donttext.cfm - NHTSA,. Department of Transportation, Highway Traffic Safety. (2011). Policy statement and compiled faqs on distracted driving. Washington,DC:NHTSA - Vasquez, E. (2010, June 18). Adults as likely to text while driving as teens, study says. CNN Tech, p. 1.