The South Carolina Senate passed a bill last month that intends to ban South Carolina drivers from holding or touching a phone for any reason while driving.
It has been illegal to text and drive since 2014, but this bill aims to place further restrictions on phone use behind the wheel.
The doi.sc.gov website lists these facts pertaining to SC driving:
- Distracted driving kills more than eight people and injures another 1,095 people daily in the U.S. (NHTSA)
- South Carolina ties for 7th worst drivers in the U.S. according to a study of key metrics. (SmartAsset.com)
- South Carolina is #1 in the nation for Fatality Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled in 2019. (IIHS)
- South Carolina averages two crashes every hour involving a distracted driver. (SCDPS)
- A teen driver is involved in a collision that kills or injures someone every 1.4 hours in South Carolina. (SCDPS)
- 1,006 people were killed in traffic accidents on South Carolina roads in 2019. (SCDPS)
- In 2019, South Carolina reported 18,936 total collisions where distracted driving contributed to the accident. (SCDPS)
- Texting and driving is 6 times more dangerous than driving drunk. (NHTSA)
