Teens Recognize Dangers of Texting and Driving and Do It Anyway
Despite acknowledging that it’s a dangerous habit, a significant proportion of teens admit to texting and driving. A new survey by Consumer Reports shows that almost a third of the teens surveyed admitted having the practice themselves.
According to the survey, 48 percent of teens said they saw one or both of their parents using a cell phone while driving and 47 percent admitted to talking on their phones while driving. While talking on a phone and driving has been proven to be a significant distraction, it probably isn’t anywhere near as bad as looking at the phone to read or write a message, which forces a drivers eyes from the road.
The understanding that texting or using email while driving is especially dangerous is spreading, in fact Alabama just became the 38th state to ban the behavior outright.
NHTSA reported that 3,029 deaths resulted from distracted driving in 2010. It seems that despite the number of teens admitting to text and drive coming back higher than some would hope, the number of highway fatalities is expected to drop to the lowest since 1949.
While the percentage of drivers who text seems to drop with age, it also seems that peer pressure is a positive influence in this case. The Consumer Reports survey also found that teens are less likely to text with a friend in the car. That survey questioned 1,049 people ages 16 to 21.
[Source: Automotive News]
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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