The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration unveiled survey analysis that reveals young people are the least likely passengers to say something to their driver if he or she were texting or talking on a cell phone.
“Distracted driving is an epidemic on our roadways, and these new findings show that our youngest drivers are particularly at risk,” says U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “We’re encouraging young people across America to commit to distraction-free driving, spread the word to their family and friends, and speak up if the driver in their car is distracted.”
Findings from the first nationally-representative telephone survey on driver distraction conducted by the NHTSA show that younger drivers ages 18 to 20 years old report the highest level of phone involvement in crash or near-crash incidences. These young drivers are nearly three times as likely to report having been reading or sending a text or e-mail when such an incident occurred as compared to drivers age 25 and higher. In addition, drivers younger than 25 are two to three times more likely to drive while sending or reading a text message or e-mail. Reports of texting while driving drop sharply as age increases.
The NHTSA survey polled more than 6,000 drivers to assess the public’s attitudes, knowledge and self-reported behavior related to cell phones. When asked as passengers how they would feel about different situations, almost all respondents (about 90 percent overall) reported that they considered a driver who was sending or reading text messages or e-mails as very unsafe. However, it also found that younger passengers were less likely than older passengers to speak up. About one-third of young passengers 18 to 20 and 21 to 24 would say something to a driver who was talking on a handheld phone, whereas about half of drivers 65 and older would speak up.
The full survey analysis, “Young Drivers Report the Highest Level of Phone Involvement in Crash or Near-crash Incidences,” is available at NHTSA.gov.
