More Adults Talk, Text While Driving Than Teens
RSSBy SLJ STaff
If adults are supposed to set good examples, they're certainly not doing so when it comes to driving, says a new report. Grown-ups are just as likely as teens to text-and more likely to talk on the phone-while behind the wheel.
A new survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project also finds that 49 percent of adults say they've been passengers in a car when the driver was sending or reading text messages on their cell phone. And 44 percent of adults say they've been passengers of drivers who used their cell phones in a way that put themselves or others in danger. About the same number of teens say they've also experienced both.
And when not driving, about 17 percent of adults admit to being so distracted while walking and talking or texting that they actually bump into other people or objects.
"That amounts to 14 percent of all American adults who have been so engrossed in talking, texting, or otherwise using their cell phones that they bumped into something or someone," the report says.
Other key findings? Nearly half, or 47 percent, of all texting adults say they've sent or read a text message while driving, compared to one in three (34 percent) of texting teens ages 16-17 who say they've "texted while driving," says the "Teens and Distracted Driving" report.
Another interesting comparison includes 75 percent of adults who say they've talked on a cell phone while driving, compared to 52 percent of teens ages 16-17 who say they've done the same. That translates to 61 percent of adults who've talked on a cell phone while driving, compared to 43 percent of all American teens ages 16-17 who say they've also talked on their phones while driving.
The new findings come from a nationwide phone survey of 2,252 American adults (744 of which were conducted on cell phones) conducted between April 29 and May 30. In the survey, 1,917 were cell owners and 1,189 used text messaging. The findings for teens were based on previously released data from a separate nationwide telephone survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between June 26 and September 24, 2009, and included a sample of 800 teens ages 12-17 and a parent or guardian.
