Statistics from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal that a majority of high school seniors are texting and driving. The report claims that in a national survey administered last year, 58% of high school seniors admitted to texting or e-mailing while driving, otherwise known as ‘distracted driving’ or ‘careless driving’. In the same study, 43% of high school juniors admitted to the same. The study is significant for there has been little actual evidence of teen texting and driving beyond general speculation.
Mentioned in KSL’s report of the study is a teen from New Jersey who caused a fender bender last year due to texting while driving. Said the young man of the event, “I felt like an idiot,” and, “It caused me to be a lot more cautious.” What is most frightening, though, is the young man continued by saying that he still texts and drives.
It is now considered a primary offense in the state of Utah to text and drive. Sadly though, there are probably fewer adults out there that can claim to be texting and driving any less than the teens involved in this study. Our age of constant communication, consumption and commercialism causes us to disregard safety, paying about as much attention to it as we do a back seat driver.