Study: Adults And Teens Are Both To Blame For Distracted Driving

By Shevlin Smith

| June 28, 2010

Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project released the results of a new study. The study found that adults are just as likely as teenagers to text and drive. Specifically, the study found 47 percent of adults who use text messaging admit to texting and driving, compared to only 34 percent of teenagers. Those numbers were then adjusted for the percentage of each population that texts, and the study concluded that 27 percent of adults text and drive and 26 percent of teenagers text and drive.

Adults didn’t do much better when it came to talking on their cell phones while driving. The study found that 61 percent of adults talk on their cell phones while driving, compared to 43 percent of sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds.

The study is important because cell phone use while driving leads to many serious accidents every year. Cell phone use and driving is not just a problem among teenage drivers. The study recommends that both adults and teenagers be taught the dangers of distracted driving, put down their phones, and concentrate on driving safely.