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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
- It is Illegal to Text While Driving but Everything Else is Technically Ok
- 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
