One Third of Teens Admit to Driving Intexticated
A third of teenagers are guilty of texting while driving.
Texting while driving isn't against the law universally, but most people will agree that tapping away on your cell phone can be seriously distracting. A worrying study shows that a significant amount of young people on our roads admit to texting while driving and 48 percent of teenagers say they have been in the car with a driver who was texting.
The study conducted by the Pew Internet and & American Life Project reports that a third of teenagers aged between 16 and 17 say they have texted while driving. Nearly half of teens aged between 12 and 17 say they have been in a car with a driver who was also texting.
However the most surprising part of this study is that many of the 800 teens surveyed said the person driving while texting was an adult. MSNBC cites one boy in the study who said his dad, "drives like he's drunk. His phone is just like sitting right in front of his face, and he puts his knees on the bottom of the steering wheel and tries to text." A middle school student asked about how frequently he's in the car with a texting driver responded, "All the time. My mom, sister or brother will sit behind the wheel the whole time and just text away."
Reactions to texting while driving also varied a huge amount. One kid is quoted as saying "it's fine" and adds that he even wears sunglasses so the cops won't see him looking down at the screen, while another says he snatches the phone out of the driver's hands if they start messing with their phone.
What are your thoughts on texting while driving? Let us know in the comments below!
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Never do it. Period.
are teen that idiots or simply unaware of what they are doing.....
pretty sad
Clearly the answer here is to BAN ALCOHOL!
Oh, wait..
Natural selection, let it be.
if only there were a device that would allow you to communicate with your voice - that would be safer
Since they actually are taking your eyes off the road for extended periods of time. I would rather take my chances with someone whom just drank 8 or 10 beers rather than someone texting while driving.
Since they actually are taking your eyes off the road for extended periods of time. I would rather take my chances with someone whom just drank 8 or 10 beers rather than someone texting while driving.
Well it doesn't matter if your looking at the road or not if you can't react to anything/the road is swimming in front of you.
I don't text/drive as much as possible, I will never do it with anyone else in the car, and haven't done it for weeks, but it occasionally happens. But then again I'm not a textaholic anyway. Personally I don't ride with anyone who texts very often, but I don't appreciate it, hence why I won't do it with other people in the car at all.
wow....technology has advanced to the point where our voices are not needed any longer....scaaary!!
Try Vlingo. You can send texts hands free with a bluetooth headset. I also have my Blackberry bold set to read incoming texts to me. The technology is not perfect but I does solve the issue of having your hands on the wheel.
Wow....technology has advanced to the point where are voices are not needed any more......scaarry!!
Studies have shown texting while driving is almost 3 times more dangerous than driving drunk. I think it should be illegal, especially for teens who barely know how to drive in the first place. Though I have to admit I have read texts a few times while driving, but its always 2 or 3 words at a time so that i can focus on the road.
Natural selection, let it be.
Yeah, until one of those texting morons rams into you
Natural selection, let it be.
...and when one of those 'intexticated' drivers hits you?
I think there needs to be a distinction made about the whole texting while driving thing. Are some of these teen drivers texting only while at a stop light and thinking that counts? If so, then the poll results will be overstated.
I do it all the time. At a stop light, I will send a lengthy text. On a straight section of highway with no traffic and no other cars near me, I'll send a quick text response like, "Kk". Never in traffic, on city or residential streets, or on curved roads. I don't see a problem with that. I'm also opposed to special laws against texting while driving. There are plenty of laws in existance to deal with distracted drivers and drivers who are all over the road. Anymore, these laws are more about revenue generation than about public safety.
Anyway, that's my confession. I'm sure a lot of people here do similar things but won't admit to them for fear of being neg-voted... so neg-vote away.
geez, talk about telepathy, I was just about to post the same thing...
then I hit refresh and bam, 2 people posting about you being un.naturally selected...
[citation][nom]lightsaber[/nom]
Put down the beer. You seem to be repeating yourself.
I was always taught that driving required 100% of your attention. So, why do people eat, talk on the phone, text, do their hair, or whatever while they drive?
Natural selection, let it be.
Except...maybe, you know, that natural selection will not only kill them but some people that DONT deserve to be "selected" as well.
btw.... This is getting really out of hand, they need to just get rid of texting.
doing anything else but paying attention to driving is really dangerous. though we seem to have caught on much more quickly this time about the dangers of texting and driving.
I get so mad when I see teens doing it while I am driving. One time, somebody doing it almost slammed into me at a stop sign. When I see people texting next to me on the road I get a huge desrire to slam into their cars with mine.
btw.... This is getting really out of hand, they need to just get rid of texting.
or we need to get rid of teens
Nothing surprising here... how about 1/2 the adult drivers out there are idiots.
It should be illegal, and anyone caught doing it should lose their driver's license for a year. Anyone caught a second time should lose their license for life.
If cops would just put down their damned radar guns, and start watching how people drive, they could put a stop to this insanity.
TEENS - YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO RISK THE LIVES OF OTHERS, PERIOD...
Everyone needs to see this video, especially teens...
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10323039-48.html
im a teen never did it, i dont like alcohol and being hangover next morning and loose some braincells next morning with headache so yeah
I agree, anyone caught: on phone, texting, drunk, drinking hot beverage, reading anything or putting on makeup while driving should be severely punished as they do not have the rights to harm others.
Intexticated??? Really???
@annisman
"I get a huge desrire to slam into their cars with mine."
...Because that is much safer.
At least in the UK it is illegal, same as talking on the phone while you are driving. Anything that distracts you from concentrating 100% on the road ahead will get you in deep water here.
Trouble is society is becoming faster and faster, people are expected to do many things as once, and to some they don't know when to stop or really just don't care of the possible implications to others. They believe they are great at everything, like the idiots who proclaim they driver better after a few drinks..
Unlike intelligence, stupidity has no limits