A new study has found that teens that text while driving usually indulge in other risky behavior as well.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report that said four in every ten teenagers in the country admitted to texting while driving. Researchers also found that such teenagers are also likely to indulge in other risky behaviors like drinking under the influence of alcohol and not using their seat belts.
The study was published May 13 in the Pediatrics' June edition. It stated that 45 percent of all 16 year old participants admitted to texting and receiving texts while driving. Considering that texting and driving is illegal in 45 states in the U.S., researchers think these statistics are a little disturbing. The study also found that such teenagers were also more likely to DUI and due to texting their seatbelt habits deteriorated.
Teens that texted everyday while driving were 40 percent more likely to not wear their seats belts while driving than teens who texted once or twice while driving.
CDC Director Thomas Frieden pointed out that the greatest risk for teenagers in the U.S. is getting hurt or killed in an accident and texting while driving makes teen driving ever riskier. This new study confirms the findings of a research that was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Washington, D.C., which noted that teenagers that text while driving also engage in other dangerous activities like smoking pot, having unsafe sex, consuming more than 5 alcoholic drinks at one time and using indoor tanning devices.
Apart from teenagers, the study also noted that 49 percent adults also admitted to texting while driving in the past one month, which brings the total number of people texting while driving in the country even higher than previously believed.
CDC also noted that prohibiting texting while driving in some states has had little effect on bringing down these numbers as 39% teenagers admitted to the offense in states where is was illegal while 43% admitted to the offense in states where there are no restrictions on texting and driving.
