A recent survey finds that 71 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 49 admit they text or talk on the phone while they drive.  Nearly 500,000 people are injured and 6,000 are killed each year because drivers are talking, texting and e-mailing behind the wheel.

Most European countries ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving, but not all U.S. states have laws restricting texting and driving. So far, 19 states and the District of Columbia have banned texting while driving. In seven states and the District of Columbia, drivers can only use their cell phones if they are hands-free.

The Kane Law Firm in Maitland, Florida has previously posted blogs about these topics:

• Dangers of Texting and Driving
• PSA on Texting While Driving
• Texting While Driving

The Today show had a Special Report on texting while driving that can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2D3hB278Gc.

Oprah has devoted an entire show to the topic.  An abbreviated version can be viewed here.  The devastating stories of how texting and driving has affected people’s lives are summarized below from Oprah’s website: 

• In September 2008, a Los Angeles commuter train conductor missed a red light while sending and receiving more than 40 text messages. His packed train collided head-on with a freight train, injuring 135 people. The conductor and 24 others were killed, making it the second worst commuter train crash in U.S. history.
• Weeks later, a school bus carrying 21 students was rear-ended by an 18-wheel semitruck. The bus was pushed more than 200 feet before bursting into flames. Twenty students escaped, but 13-year-old Margay Schee was killed. The truck driver admitted he had been texting and hadn’t seen that the bus was stopped.
• In November 2008, Shelly and her husband, Daren, were the happily married parents of three beautiful girls, 13-year-old Jessica, 9-year-old Erica and 4-year-old Valerie. “Erica is my little sunshine because she lit up the house,” she says. “She was making us laugh before she was a year old.” Two days before Thanksgiving, Shelly came back from a doctor’s appointment to find emergency crews on her street. “There were all these people and a child lying on the ground,” she says. “I had no idea it was my daughter.” Shelly remembers that tragic day. Daren says Erica was riding her bike home from school. “Erica was just around the corner from our house,” he says. “She was 30 seconds from being home safely.” Erica had been hit head-on by a 5,000-pound SUV. Police say that the driver had recently finished a phone call at the time of the accident. “The driver said: ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t see her,’” Shelly says. “I felt badly for the driver because I thought: ‘Oh, she’s unconscious. She’s going to be okay.’ … And they started cutting my daughter’s clothes off and it was hitting me this is very, very, very serious.” Erica was rushed to the local children’s hospital, then airlifted to another facility. “The neurosurgeon made it very clear she was going to die,” Shelly says. “I spent the night with her that night. I held her. Cried. I kissed her. I sang to her. I just needed to have time with my girl.
• September 22, 2006, began like any other day for Jackie Furfaro. She kissed her husband, Jim, goodbye as he left to pick up his colleague, Keith O’Dell, for work. A few hours later, Jackie arrived at work, where police were waiting for her. They told her Jim had been in an accident. “I saw Jim’s license in the hands of one of the police officers, and I realized that he was dead,” she says. “They told me that a 19-year-old who was driving a white Tahoe had crossed the center line and clipped my husband,” she says. “He ended up in the oncoming traffic line and was broadsided by the vehicle behind the 19-year-old, and he was killed instantly, along with Keith.” An investigator at the crash site suspected texting was involved when he saw the 19-year-old, Reggie Shaw, texting on the way to a mandatory drug and alcohol screening. No drugs or alcohol were found in his system, but cell phone records confirmed Reggie had been texting from the time he got into his car up until the moment of the crash. Reggie was sentenced to 30 days in jail, community service and to honor a unique request from Jackie-to watch a video of her husband’s funeral. “I just wanted him to know who he killed,” she says. “That was a way for him to get to know one of the men.” Before the accident, Reggie says he texted “pretty close to 100 percent of the time” while driving. “I just never thought about it,” he says. “Growing up, going to high school, going to driver’s ed, it was never taught to me how dangerous it was.” Reggie says he’s haunted by what he’s done. “This affects my life every day. It’s something that I can never really forgive myself for. It was a poor choice that I made,” he says. “I have trouble sleeping at night. You drive down the road, you see accidents on the side of the road, and instantly that’s the first thing that I think of. It’s hard every day. It never gets easier.” When asked whether the jail time he served was enough, Reggie says he doesn’t know. “I think about those 30 days in jail and what I went through and how hard that was for me-and I think about the two lives that are lost,” he says. “I don’t know if it was enough.”
• Linda Doyle was a beloved wife, mother and grandmother. On September 3, 2008, the 61-year-old was killed after a 20-year-old driver ran a red light and T-boned her car going 45 to 50 miles per hour. “He didn’t see the light,” says Jennifer, Linda’s daughter. “The news reports that night, the newspapers the next day said he was engrossed in a cell phone conversation.” Jennifer says she was stunned after seeing the wreckage of her mother’s car. “When I saw the seat she was sitting in, that was the hardest part for me,” she says. “Put your mother, your wife, your son, your daughter, your grandparents, your friend in that seat that my mother was sitting in and you tell me, is that phone call worth it?” Before her mother’s accident, Jennifer says she used her car as an office. “I didn’t text. That was something I knew I couldn’t do. But I was on the phone,” she says. “I was just under the same misconception as everyone else that if you’ve got that headset in your ear, you’re okay.” Jennifer wants people to know having a headset won’t protect you. “The man driving that car that hit my mother was driving for less than a quarter of a mile. He was on the phone for less than a minute. He couldn’t do it. His brain couldn’t handle it,” she says. “It’s not where your hands are. It’s where your head is.”

The U.S. government Tuesday, January 26, 2010, banned hand-held “texting” by drivers of large commercial trucks and buses to avoid the danger of distracted driving.  Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement the prohibition takes effect immediately. It follows a similar ban in December for drivers of federal government vehicles.  “We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe,” LaHood said. “This is an important safety step and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving.”  The new ban carries fines of up to $2,750.

This is a big step in preventing needless accidents.  Hopefully people will pay attention to the law and dire consequences of using their phone while driving (talking on it, texting, checking their calendar, or even surfind the internet).

Already 55,000 people have signed Oprah’s “No Phone Zone” pledge that they will not use their phone in their car.