Originally posted by ViciousCycle
Is 2600 an annual figure? If so, 2600 represents 19.23% of the annual 50,000 motor vehicles deaths in the U.S - a significant percentage. If this figure is not an annual figure, it's still not worth ignoring.
It is an annual number (per recent Harvard study), but the math works out to 5.2% if the 50,000 deaths is an accurate number. This is still a VERY SIGNIFICANT number. That works out to more than 1 in every 20 fatal accidents.
The more telling number is the 330,000 (or over 900/day) per year that are injured. Certainly, some of these injuries left the victims in a permanently disabled state. Even if only 75% of the drivers on the road obeyed a law disallowing cell phone usage while driving – it would save over 678 people PER DAY from this sort of injury.
The number that I've found for the total number of automobile accidents that cause injury is around 3,000,000. That makes cell phone related automobile injuries @ about 11% of the total.
Again, for those who think these numbers are insignificant - what is your number? Where do you draw the line in terms of % or number of injuries/deaths?? 50%? 1,000,000???