Woman Distracted by Texting Drives Her Car Into a Lake

[Glassunion]

120. You are concerned for 10's of millions of drivers that drive near water.

I get that. But how big is the issue? I'm using 2007 NHTSA numbers.

On average 384 people in 339 vehicles die each year in motor vehicle accidents where the cause of death is drowning.

In 150 of those vehicles the police reported alcohol use.
In 200 of those vehicles not using the seat belts was a mitigating factor.
Of those 339 vehicles 203 of them were immersed in water.

So basically, you have 0.000165% of all vehicles on the road that have an immersion accident where there is a drowning fatality each year. This accounts for 0.00319% of all motor vehicle accidents each year.

So what you are asking is that auto manufacturers install an additional device into all of their vehicles that may not (only 1 in 4 vehicle immersions occur where the immersion is the first harmful event) have an effect on only 1 in over half a million vehicles on the road each year.

I'm not personalizing this. I'm stressing the fact that people do not take driving seriously and they end up killing thousands of people each year. The overwhelming majority of vehicle accidents are caused by people. These people, chatting on their phones, texting, playing with the GPS, drinking, doing drugs, taking too much cold medicine, driving while tired, speeding, tailgating, etc... kill tens of thousands and injure and maim almost 2 million people each year.

10% of all traffic fatalities are caused by distracted drivers. Let that sink in for a second. 1 in 10 people involved in fatal accidents are dead because a driver was distracted. 20% of traffic injuries are caused by distracted drivers. 1 in 5 people injured in accidents was caused by a distracted driver.

30% of all traffic fatalities are caused by drunk drivers. 1 in 3 people involved in fatal accidents are caused by drunk drivers.

Another 30% of traffic fatalities are caused by whose who are speeding.

So you have 70% of all people killed in automobile accidents that were killed by only 3 major causes. All 3 of those causes are 100% people being stupid.