Adults Text While Driving More Than Teens!

A recent survey by AT&T has been released which shows that adults text and drive a great deal more often than teenagers. What is worse is that the adults know that texting while driving is wrong, but that they continue to do it anyway!

In the survey over half of adults admit to texting while driving. 43% of teenagers admitted to do it. 98% of the adults surveyed responded that they knew that it was wrong and dangerous to text while driving. And for those naysayers who would say that adults have been texting for a long time and have a bigger habit to break? 6 in 10 of the adults surveyed said they were not texting and driving three years ago.

This survey comes on the heels of a report for the Centers for Disease Control that say approximately 9 people die every day from distracted driving, and more than 1,000 people are injured. The data is not 100% complete, because the government does not distinguish texting in its distracted driving statistics, but texting is one of the leading causes of distracted driving.

While it does not seem like it takes a long time, sending a text message from a cell phone can keep a driver’s eyes off the road for a little less than 5 seconds. During that, a vehicle traveling at 55mph will travel the distance of a football field. A lot of things can happen during that time.

There are a lot of great technologies out there to help prevent you from driving distracted. Siri Eyes Free, now available in the inexpensive Chevrolet Spark, allows you to control your iPhone while driving, but in a safe manner. Samsung’s S Voice Drive, coming in the Samsung Galaxy S4, is another alternative. Lastly, you could always pull off to the side of the road in a safe location to return a text message or send an email! Regardless of what you do to avoid driving distracted, it is much safer than the latter option. It does no good to explain how dangerous distracted driving is, because according to this survey adults already know! Please though find a safe and responsible way to use your phone while driving if you must do so.