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Drivers may notice Dr. John Hoffman’s message on local billboards telling them to stop texting while driving.

Hoffman, a Danville chiropractor who treats patients with car wreck-related injuries, spent thousands of dollars of his own money to place the messages on four of his six billboard advertisements in the Danville and the Pittsylvania County area.

More and more, he found his clients had been involved in wrecks because of a driver who was texting.

“It’s a real crisis,” Hoffman said. “ … I felt like I should say something.”

He began asking people if they ever texted while driving. The answer more often than not was they do.

A driver who is distracted by texting or reading texts or emails is the safety equivalent of a drunk driver, Hoffman said, citing a University of Utah study.

“It really, really is a big problem,” Hoffman said. “It’s like you suddenly have drunk drivers all over the road.”

Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot said it was pretty pervasive in the city because it’s so easy to do. While state law prohibits texting or reading texts or emails while driving, police can’t really enforce it, he said. The law makes it a secondary offense, meaning the officer must pull the driver over for a different offense.

Additionally, it’s hard to prove someone was texting or driving. Broadfoot said police have to rely on voluntary compliance.

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute recently reported that a texting driver is 23 times more likely to get into a crash than a non-texting driver, according to a news release.

In response to the study, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is joining other state attorneys general, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Ad Council in a new public service announcement campaign to urge young adults to “stop the texts and stop the wrecks,” according to a news release.

An Ad Council national survey revealed 75 percent of young adult drivers have sent a text message while driving. Yet, the NHTSA reports 16 percent of drivers younger than 20 years old involved in fatal crashes were distracted while driving.

“Distracted driving is dangerous, and tragically, teen drivers are the most at risk of being involved in a fatal distracted driving crash,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Texting while driving is not multitasking, it is driving blind, Cuccinelli said.

“By taking your eyes off the road, even for a few seconds, you are making the road less safe for you, your passengers, and other drivers,” Cuccinelli said.

For more information, visit stoptextsstopwrecks.org or www.distraction.gov.

By the numbers

Every day, more than 15 people are killed and 1,200 are injured in car wrecks because of a distracted driver.

Source: www.cdc.gov