Adults Driving, Drinking, and Texting
By Ken Ringstad on August 1st, 2014 in Blog, Car Accident, Distracted Driving
How many articles have you seen about strategies to prevent teens from texting and driving? Teens often have the finger pointed at them when the topic of cell phone use behind the wheel arises, but it turns out teens are far from the only culprits.
The parents and other adults that teens look to for guidance seem to be just as guilty of this type of distracted driving. But, adults are supposed to be wiser and safer, right? That’s not what surveys revealed.
An online survey of 2,045 adults, conducted between May 27 and 29 of this year, asked participants to reveal their thoughts on drinking and driving, and texting and driving. The results may surprise you.
In regards to drinking and driving: a greater part of adults (94%) think that attempting to driver after drinking three or more alcoholic drinks is “dangerous or very dangerous.” A good amount of adults declared and even lower limit, seeing a risk after “just one or two drinks.” These results seem like very responsible responses, until the next question is answered.
Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed admitted to driving after drinking too much. Worse than that, 30% say that they are likely drive after drinking heavily, as long as the drive home isn’t too long.
The results for texting while driving are just as interesting: 94% of Americans think that texting while driving is “dangerous or very dangerous,” and 91% think it’s a hazard to even read messages. Yet, 45% percent of those same adults admitted to reading texts while driving, and 37% admit to typing and pressing send while the car is in motion.
That’s not all: 37% say they’ve browsed the Internet for information while behind the wheel.
The survey also prompted the adults to reveal how often they talked on the phone while driving, an action that is still considered very distracting. About 74% admit to talking while driving, and 21% say they do it frequently.
While this survey does little to actually prove that these actions contribute to car accidents, we have all seen the numbers proving that distracted driving is a top cause of accidents and the safety campaigns cracking down on cellphone use.
So, it turns out teens aren’t the only culprits. Smartphone fever seems to affect everyone and cellphone use behind the wheel is a growing problem across all ages.
