A survey by AT&T, comparing teens and adults indulging in texting while driving, shows almost half of all adults admit to texting while driving and almost all adults are aware that it is not acceptable, according to USA Today.
The survey compared 1,200 teens between the ages of 17 and 19-years old and 1,011 adults and it showed almost all adults (98 percent) were aware of the fact that texting or e-emailing while driving was unsafe and 49 percent of all adults admitted to indulging in the act, which is more than the teens (43 percent). Charlene Lake, AT&T's senior vice president-public affairs, said that the number of drivers who text while driving has increased in the last three years.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, driving laws in 39 states and cities including the Capital D.C. and incorporated territories of the U.S. including Puerto Rico and Guam refrain all drivers from texting while driving. Also six additional states ban texting by learner drivers.
John Ulczycki of the National Safety Council said that teens indulging in texting while driving may not be as alarming as adults indulging in the act because there are more than 180 million adult drivers and 10 million teen drivers. Hence, the result that shows 49 percent of adults' text while driving is alarming.
According to a recent report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on distracted driving, 31 percent of drivers in the U.S. aged above 18 years old reportedly text while driving. CDC noted that texting while driving can be dangerous because a person is distracted completely with eyes, hands and mind off the road. The report said that nearly 3,267 people died in accidents involving a distracted driver in 2010. The numbers rose to 3,331 in 2012.
"When you text and drive, you take your eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, which is the length of a football field," FCCLA student leader Rickee Oxford said in a statement. "Some of the students think that the whole program is negative. This is serious stuff and sometimes you can't sugarcoat."
The survey conducted by AT&T is a part of "It Can Wait" campaign, which was started three years ago to create awareness among people, especially teens, to refrain from texting while driving. It urges people to pledge not to text while driving and more than 1.3 million have pledged. AT&T also urged several organizations to create awareness among their employees and more than 165 organizations have joined to support the cause, Lake said.
USAA also joined the cause to spread awareness among the company's employers and 24,700 employees pledged against texting while driving, says Joel Camarano, Executive Director Auto Underwriting Solutions at USAA
"USAA was so impressed with the It Can Wait campaign that we sponsored our own campaign to not text while driving for our employees," he said. "We are currently in discussions to figure out the most effective way we can ... expand the reach of this important campaign."
