Distracted Driving: One in Six Highway Deaths Tied to Phones, Texting - ABC News

So-called distracted driving crashes claimed 5,474 lives and led to 448,000

injuries across the country last year, according to the National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration. That's one in every six highway deaths.

"People

[need to] take personal responsibility for the fact that they're driving a three

or four thousand pound car," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told ABC News.

"If you're looking down at a cell phone for four seconds or a texting device for

four seconds, you're driving the length of a football field without looking at

the road."

Distracted Driving: One in Six Highway Deaths Tied to Phones, Texting - ABC News: "'Surveys show that a large majority of drivers think they're better than average drivers so it, people may believe that they can text or talk on a phone safely while other people on the road can't,' she said. 'With any kind of unsafe driving -- drinking and driving, speeding, not wearing your seatbelt -- you may get away with that most of the time. You don't think you're going to be in a crash. So it's hard to keep the worry about being in a crash foremost in your mind.'"