Many crashes have been tied to distracted driving. And whether they lead to serious or even deadly injuries or not, drivers should never ignore the potential risks.
But according to recent reports, billionaire Warren Buffett says that distracted driving is to blame for another problem: high insurance rates.
During an interview with CNBC, Buffett claimed that distracted driving is pushing the number of traffic accidents up, forcing consumers to pay a higher price for their insurances. For teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19, distracted driving is dangerous. According to Buffett, it’s also the number one killer of these same teenagers.
A study recently published by AAA claims that 70 percent of people who participated admitted to taking on a cellphone while driving at least once in the past month. About 42 percent of respondents claimed they had read text messages while driving during the same period. At least 32 percent admit to actually typing out messages while driving as well.
According to AAA, people are so hooked on their phones that they have a hard time coping with the fact that, sometimes, they must put their phones down, especially if they want to make home safely and in one piece.
According to some estimates, the number of traffic deaths has gone up at least 8 percent last year, and according to Buffett, distracted driving is directly tied to the increase. Other reports show that at least 10 percent of the deadly crashes in 2014 were associated with distracted driving.
With the increase in the number of auto crashes, insurances also suffer. Eventually, companies must hike up their prices if they want to stay in business.
To experts in the field, however, distracted driving is not the only issue. Since the economy has been picking up, there’s a higher number of people driving, which naturally increases the number of crashes.
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