The National Safety Council announced last week that the national statistics on motor vehicle crashes involving cell phone use are somewhat inaccurate. In fact, a new study shows that almost 25% of all accidents that happen in America per year involve some degree of cell phone use. The National Safety Council in connection with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company reviewed 180 fatal crashes from 2009 to 2011 where the evidence showed that the driver had been using a cell phone. Of these fatal crashes, only 52% were actually coded as involving cell phone use in the national data.

The National Safety Council says that they believe the number of car accidents involving mobile phones is much higher than was originally reported. This is because in some cases, there are no witnesses to evidence that a driver was on his or her phone. There are also circumstances where a driver will deny being on the phone as it could create a case against them. Also, there are times that a lack of consistency in traffic reports will reduce the amount of cell phone use accident sin statistics.

Also, states input their crash data different ways, and states have different definitions about what cell phone use actually is. That is why in Tennessee the state reported 93 fatal crashes due to cell phone use on the road, but in New York there were 0 crashes of this nature reported. Also, Texas reported 40 fatal cell phone-related crashes and Louisiana, a neighboring state, also reported that there were no crashes.

Even in cases where a driver does admit that he or she was on the cell phone at the time of the crash, the NSC learned that most of the time this was not coded in the federal data. In fact, studies show that half of the time the cell phone use is not even included in the details of the crash. Nationwide Insurance says that the public must remember that cell phone use and crashes is not accurately reported. The statistics that are provided by the federal government heavily influence the national safety efforts towards texting and driving issues.

Those statistics are used to help associations decide on funding, and they are what gets the most media attention. Those statistics also influence vehicle production and roadway engineering as individuals try to design both the cars and the roads to reduce the risk of an injury or fatality. There are wide-spread ramifications when a particularly fatal driving habit is underreported. That is why the NHTSA and the NSC want the federal government to take their findings into consideration and realize that the problem of cell phone use while driving is massive.

Those who use their cell phone while on the road can glance down and fail to see roadblocks, brake lights, or a pedestrian ahead. When something out of the ordinary happens on the road, it can cause a collision because the driver is not aware of what is going on around him or her. With smartphones, it is easy to get distracted. In addition to talking on the phone, individuals can put themselves in danger by texting, e-mailing, reading texts and e-mails, checking social media applications like Instagram and Facebook, playing games, listening to music and trying to find another track, organizing a calendar, setting an alarm, looking at photos, taking photos and much more. With so many dangerous distractions on one device, it's no wonder that people die every year from cell-phone related crashes. Talk to a car accident attorney near you today if you have been injured in an accident of this nature and want assistance in your case.