Guess Who’s Driving Distracted?

Think it’s just teens who text and drive?  Not so fast!  A new AT&T survey found that 49 percent of adults admit to texting while driving, compared to 43 percent of teens.  Perhaps most troubling is the fact that both adults and teens know that what they’re doing is wrong.

The survey found that 98 percent of respondents are aware that texting and driving isn’t safe.  Clearly the educational campaigns urging motorists to put down their smart phones or other communications devices while behind the wheel are being seen and heard.  But despite this messaging, the AT&T survey suggests that the problem is getting worse.  Six out of every 10 respondents said that, three years ago, they never texted while driving.  Meanwhile, 40 percent of drivers who admit to texting in the survey say it’s a habit, not just an occasional slip-up. 

The problem is huge and one that we simply can’t ignore.  According to the 2011 National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) issued last Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), at any given daylight moment across America, approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving.  What does that mean for your safety?  Consider this, 3,331 people were killed and 387,000 were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2011 (the latest year for which data is available).  While the number of people injured as a result of distracted driving actually fell since 2010 (416,000), fatalities increased 7.7 percent. 

There is some good news.  Most drivers support bans on hand-held cell phone use (74 percent) and texting while driving (94 percent).  NHTSA’s 2012 National Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors, also found that on average, these drivers thought fines for these offense should be at least $200.  At the same time, however, they view distracted driving as risky when others drivers do it, but don’t recognize how their own driving deteriorates.  This “I’m not the problem, it’s the other guy” mentality isn’t surprising and mirrors the findings of similar surveys of New Jersey motorists conducted by AAA and Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Poll over the past few years.

Almost half of the drivers who responded to NHTSA’s 2012 survey said they answer an incoming call and one in four drivers are willing to place a call on all, most or some trips.  Slightly fewer are willing to make a call while driving compared to 2010 (28 percent to 24 percent), but there’s little if any change in those who answer a call while driving.  In 2011, there were almost 212 million licensed drivers in the U.S., about 102 million were answering calls and 50 million were placing calls while driving.  

If you’re distracted, you’re impaired and can’t safely operate a motor vehicle.  It’s time to kick the habit.  Turn off your phone and put it out of reach before you start the car.  Be a good role model for younger drivers and children (remember, they watch and mimic what adults do).  Talk to your teens and children about what it means to be a responsible, safe driver.  Speak up when you’re a passenger and the driver uses a cell phone.  Offer to make the call, so he stays fully focused on the task of driving. 

If these tips don’t convince you to “just drive,” think about the people in your life who are counting on you to return home to them each and every day.  Drivers who text are 23 times more likely to get into an accident than other drivers.  And a driver who talks on a cell phone is four times more likely to cause a crash.  Why take that risk?  Put the phone down.  That call or text can wait.