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Study: Texting While Driving has Doubled Since Law Went into Effect
Photo by Lucyrk in LA via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr
Photo by Lucyrk in LA via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr
Since California's no texting while driving law went into effect 19 months ago, texting and use of smart phones has just about doubled, finds a study conducted by The Auto Club. The membership organization found that 2.7% of drivers at anytime are breaking the law. The same study conducted earlier this year found that 1.1% of drivers were texting.Young women were the biggest texting offenders (4.3% texting at any time) while the majority of young men were observed using smart phones or other devices like iPods (3.1% at any time).
And despite 84% of teens understanding the risks of distracted driving -- it can be riskier than drunk driving, actually -- 86% of teens in a AAA/Seventeen Magazine study admitted to texting while driving.
The California Highway Patrol averages about 200 texting citations a month. That's a statewide statistic. Part of the problem is that it's hard to see a driver text because the action is often down below the window's line of sight.
But the agency average 12,500 hand-held cell phone citations each month. In the study, The Auto Club noted that hand-held cell phone use has stayed the same at 3.7%.
Related
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- Next Time Your Parents Get Mad at You for Texting in the Car, Show Them This!
- Mayor Gets the Message Out that Texting While Driving is Illegal
- Not Good: Distracted Driving Left Nearly 6,000 Dead Last Year
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