The dangers of texting and driving are obvious — especially since most of us have done it and realized the danger after swerving a bit into the other lane. 

But these statistics below will show you just how serious texting and driving is — starting with the fact people texting or reading texts are 23% more likely to get into a car accident.

Some more shocking statistics:

• From the Department of Transportation: Cell phones are involved in some 1.6 million automobile-related accident annually — which cause some 500,000 injuries and leads to the deaths of some 6,000 each year.
• A University of Utah study showed that the reaction time of a teenage driver who is using his/her cellphone is the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using one.
• Texting or reading a text typically takes about 4.6 seconds. If you’re driving 65 mph that equates to driving the length of a football field blindfolded. (via Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the California Office of Traffic Safety)
• Another sad fact: Headset cellphone use has not been found to be significantly safer than hand-held usage. (via Virginia Tech Transportation Institute)
• Just in California alone, some 7% of drivers admit to texting and operating motor vehicles, however, due to the inability to properly record such data, that number is assumed to be several times that number.

While nearly every state in the nation bans texting and driving in some form, there is one state where that hasn’t yet happened: Montana.

Via AOL:

Forty-four states, including South Carolina and Washington, D.C., ban texting while driving for all ages, AAA said. A handful of others, such as Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas only outlaw it for young and/or inexperienced drivers and for some bus drivers. In Arizona, cellphone use while driving is only illegal for bus drivers.

In Montana, you have to wonder why it hasn’t been banned yet.