EVERYONE KNOWS THAT distracted driving is a problem, but it tends to fall in the “other people/not me” category of personal risk assessment among drivers. But when you consider that a staggering 80 percent of traffic accidents—and 17 percent of fatalities—are caused by distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that’s clearly flawed logic, by any measure. But while we’re confident that self-driving cars are on their way to save us from ourselves—however slowly—until they do arrive we have to deal with the fact that people are texting, tweeting, and just generally smartphoning at the wheel.
