Studies show that texting while driving is as risky as driving with a 0.08 blood alcohol l...

Studies show that texting while driving is as risky as driving with a 0.08 blood alcohol level, the standard for drunk driving. The bar graph shows the number of fatalities in the United States involving distracted driving from 2004 through 2008. Although the distracted category involves such activities as talking on cellphones, conversing with passengers, and eating, experts at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claim that texting while driving is the clearest menace because it requires looking away from the road.

a. Shown to the right of the bar graph is a scatter plot with a line passing through two of the data points. Use the two points whose coordinates are shown by the voice balloons to write the point-slope form of an equation that models the number of highway fatalities involving distracted driving, y, in the United States x years after 2004.

---

b. Write the equation from part (a) in slope-intercept form. Use function notation.

---

c. In 2010, surveys showed overwhelming public support to ban texting while driving, although at that time only 19 states and Washington, D.C., outlawed the practice. Without additional laws that penalize texting drivers, use the linear function you obtained from part (b) to project the number of fatalities in the United States in 2014 involving distracted driving.