Last week, “06880” reported on an important effort by Staples’ Teen Awareness Group to educate peers on the problem idiocy of texting while driving.
A survey was done as part of the project. The results are in.
Results are mixed. There’s good news (awareness of the issue) and bad (the issue is real).
Among the 101 high school drivers surveyed:
- 42 have texted while driving; 56 have not
- 7 have lost control of their car while texting; 10 came close to crashing
- 32 say it’s easy to text and drive; 52 say it’s not
- 46 talk with their parents about texting and driving; 43 don’t
- 52 talk with their friends about it; 43 don’t.
Among the 171 passengers surveyed:
- 130 have been in a car when the driver texted; 16 have not
- 14 were comfortable when the driver texted; 138 were not (3 said “it depends on who”)
- 117 have said something to driver about his or her behavior; 42 have not
- 47 have been in a car that came close to crashing while the driver texted; 118 have not
- 95 talk with their parents about texting while driving; 65 do not
- 85 talk with their friends about the topic; 75 do not.
Some further insights into Staples’ student drivers:
The cars most of them drive are Hondas (16) and Toyotas (12). Those are followed by Jeep (7), Volvo (6), and BMW and Lexus (5 each). Three drive Mercedeses.
The 2 most popular phones are BlackBerries (30) and iPhones (21).
Feel free to pass along this important distracted-driving survey. By email, please.
Not text.
(The TAG TXT U L8TR project is sponsored by Yale-New Haven Hospital and Allstate.)
I have never texted while driving.
The truth is I have never drived a car. I am still 12.
Jokes apart, it is a serious matter.
Pranav Garg
http://thepranavgarg.wordpress.com/
17 out of 101 have come close or have crashed while driving/texting.
I do believe my bike route just changed.
Texting, driving, natural selection; I think there is a story there.
Numbers don’t ( generally ) lie. Assuming these numbers are correct and projectable, 42% of Staples studentss are either stupid, or unaware that that are endangering lives, or both.
Never has the phrase, “there ought to be a law” been more applicable.
I agree that texting and driving is a terrible problem among teens.
It is also a terrible problem among adults. I see moms and dads everywhere (not just in westport) texting while driving.
And from what I’ve seen, students know that texting and driving is dumb, but they still do it b/c they will skate by the risks (much like many dumb acts that people do). It’s more impulse than the students being unaware or the dangers or being dumb in any way. They’re just not thinking it through (which you could call dumb I guess)
Wrecker ’09: Appreciate your honesty. Your generation is being bombarded by culturiological and societal mandates that you seem unaware. You all dress alike, talk the same lingo and buy the same toys. It is the ploy of corporate America for you all to spend countless dollars on technological gizmos that kill. Until you start asking WHY, the madness will continue.
How many have been behind or almost hit by someone who is
obviously texting and/or on the phone?? Have you done
anything about it???
Sorta of shifting the blame aren’t we???
I used the phone while driving all the time– with a hands-free device or the built-in bluetooth in my car. I never text while driving.
Seems like doing something that takes your eyes off the road isn’t smart… I’m sure everyone knows this already. The problem is many don’t care.