There are three kinds of distracted driving- taking your eyes off the road, thinking about something other than the drive, and taking your hands off the steering wheel. Texting causes all three distractions.

Other distractions include eating, drinking, using a GPS while the car is moving, putting on makeup, changing the music on your mp3 player, radio, or CD, and anything else that causes you to take focus away from the road.

• It's just like drinking and driving- using a phone while driving slows the reaction time the same amount as driving with a blood alcohol content of .16, TWICE the legal limit
• 16- and 17-year-old drivers represent 11% of all driver fatalities, but only 1.6% of all licensed Maryland drivers.
• 38% of all traffic injuries in Maryland involve a distracted driver
• 18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes involved a cell phone
• Drivers who use hand held devices are four times more likely to be involved in a crash resulting in serious injury