About one in five drivers admitted in an informal online survey to surfing the Internet while behind the wheel despite a national campaign to curb distracted driving, according to insurance giant State Farm.
State Farm, which found the dangerous behavior in the unscientific survey of 912 licensed drivers in November, says it will conduct a detailed study this year.
In the November survey, more than 19 percent reported accessing the Internet on a cell phone at least once a week while driving. That compares with 74 percent who reported making or receiving calls at least once weekly while driving and 35 percent who reported sending or receiving text messages at least that frequently.
“That 19 percent might be underestimating the actual use of smartphones to access the Internet while driving, because the majority of the respondents were in the age range of the 30s,” says Cindy Garretson, director of auto technology research at State Farm. “The largest users of cellphones tend to be the younger-age population. We would be very interested to know what that number would be if the focus was on the young adult market.”
Most surfing drivers say they do so while stopped at a traffic light or stopped in traffic. Sean Black, 38, of Springfield, Ill., says he often surfs the Internet while driving. “I don’t read in-depth stuff, but I Web and drive,” he says. “I’ll check different stuff about sports. I’m not saying it’s the smartest thing in the world … but I guess I just do it anyway.”
Black, communications coordinator for the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says his wife, Jennifer, abhors the practice but he doesn’t know what it would take to get him to stop. “The easy answer would be an accident or near-accident,” he says. “But part of me wonders, depending on how bad…