The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a site called StopTextsStopWrecks that has interesting facts and videos about the dangers of texting while driving. Highly recommended for new drivers. Here are just a few of the facts from the site:
FACT #1
Five seconds is the average time your eyes are off the road while texting. When traveling at 55mph, that’s enough time to cover the length of a football field. (2009, VTTI)
FACT #2
A texting driver is 23 times more likely to get into a crash than a non-texting driver. (2009, VTTI)
FACT #3
Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashes, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (2009, NHTSA)