A new survey sheds some light on the disturbing practice of texting while behind the wheel of car.
Following a poll of over 6,000 persons by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it was discovered that 90% of people believe that texting or emailing while driving is an unsafe practice. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that these same people will voice their opinion when texting while driving happens in their presence. In fact, only half of all drivers older than 65 would say something to such a distracted driver, and an even more underwhelming 33% of passengers between the ages of 18 and 24 would speak up. These statistics come despite the fact that the poll also shows that these same young drivers were 300% more likely to report texting or emailing at the time of an accident.
To help combat this ever increasing problem, the Department of Transportation used the announcement of these findings as a way to also introduce a program known as the Distracted Driving Design Challenge. The DOT is tasking teens with coming up with some kind of catchy icon that shows distracted driving dangers and can be used on various social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
I find it quite sad as a personal injury attorney in Riverside that the practice of texting while driving continues to be an issue. Young drivers who have only recently gotten their license are in the biggest danger from such a practice, yet these statistics show that these are the very persons most often doing the texting. I hope as a Riverside car accident lawyer that these awareness campaigns work.