For a few years now, it was estimated that just over 1 in 4 auto accidents leading to death involved use of a cell phone. There was a total of 37,461 deaths in auto accidents in 2016 (the last year on record), That would put the number related to the use of cell phone at approximately 9365 for that year.
To put that number into perspective, let’s compare it to the number of deaths from gun shots for the same time period.
source – screen capture of Gun Violence Archive
Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online.
It should be noted that in looking for statistical data, I found many sites offering a much larger number of death by gunshot. Most listing exactly 38,658 for 2016. In each case where a source was listed, it came from a CDC report which listed that exact number (38,658) as the number of cases with “Multiple Causes of Death”. I was unable to find a CDC report listing gunshot/gunviolence as the cause of death.
Source – screen capture of CDC report
An article on thetrace.org titled “The First Estimate of 2017 Gun Deaths Is In”. Links to the above CDC pages and uses the figures in the CDC’s report from 2012 through 2016 as proof of increases in gun violence. Their numbers are completely wrong and may or may not included gun violence deaths, but obviously includes other causes of deaths.
Can we compare the two numbers?
If you take the Gun Violence Archive’s number of 15097 and compare it to the 1 in 4 accident caused by cell phones, 9365, it would appear there are only approximately 38% more deaths by gunshot than deaths caused by cell phone usage.
If you look at what is included in the 15097, you will see it included 1908 Officer involved incidents where the suspect was killed, 1954 people were killed in instances where the person who fired the shot was defending their own life, ie not the aggressor and 2205 where the shot was unintentional, ie a person forgetting to unload their gun before cleaning or not keep their gun away from children.
By subtracting those 3 numbers from the 15097 (because we are talking about gun violence, ie intentional) we end up with 9000 deaths by gun violence and 9365 deaths caused by people who believe talking to their friends or proving to the world how fast they are going is more important than someone else’s life.
Should we take cell phones away from everyone because some people don’t use them correctly?
My personal opinion is it is not right to take guns or phones away from the majority because the few don’t handle them correctly, but I am not trying to change your mind on the subject. I am simply trying to put these numbers into perspective and because I know from first hand experience using a cell phone while driving can be just as damaging to people as guns. The truck driver who hit me was on his cell phone at the time and I will pay for his “mistake” for the remainder of my life.
Before anyone can make their own logical opinion, we need to discuss the very real possibility that the number of deaths by cell phone is higher than we think due to faulty reporting procedures in many states.
”According to the National Safety Council report, “Police Reports Don't Capture the Real Reasons Drivers Crash”, there are some serious problems with reporting. Those specifically affecting the reporting of cell phone deaths include:
• 26 state reports lack fields to capture texting
• 32 states lack fields to record hands-free cell phone use
Knowing half, the states do not report texting while driving and well over half do not report the use of hands-free cell phone usage, the number of cell phone related deaths could be twice the number of deaths due to gun violence. Until all states are reporting the information needed to compute the totals, we can only suspect the totals to be higher than what is currently reported.
What is your opinion?
Should we take both cell phones and guns away from everyone because some people misuse them?
Have you or someone you know been harmed by a gun or someone driving while using their phone?
I wish the government kept records of how many people kill or injure their own children by using their phone while driving. Most of the 9365 people we know died in 2016 because someone was on a cell phone have no face. They don’t seem real and don’t provide that much incentive to pull into a parking lot if you have to use your phone.
Even knowing my own injuries were caused from a truck driver using his phone while driving, is not enough to change most people’s minds. Sadly, that means more children will be unintentionally killed by their parents or other drivers.
As long as we think our needs are more important than someone else, it will never end.
Sources:
nsc.org
businessinsider.com
huffingtonpost.com
after-car-accidents.com
nytimes.com
foxnews.co
Wikipedia.org
gunviolencearchive.org