Adults are more likely than teenagers to send or read text messages while driving a vehicle, a study by the Pew Research Center found.
About 47 percent of adults who use the text-messaging function on their cell phones said they have read or sent messages while driving. That compares with 34 percent of texting teens, ages 16 and 17.
“There’s been a lot of focus on young drivers, and for good reasons,” says Mary Madden, senior research specialist at Pew. “But this research provides an important reminder that adults are setting a bad example.”
Seven states and the District of Columbia ban all cell-phone use by drivers, and 28 states prohibit texting while driving, according to a report by the Governors Highway Safety Assn. The U.S. Senate is to vote on legislation banning the practice.
An Official Web site
The mobile-phone industry has taken its own steps to discourage use of wireless handsets while driving. In October, wireless trade group CTIA and the National Safety Council started a Web site, onroadoffphone.org, that encourages teen drivers not to text and drive.
CTIA this month also started distributing ads to 5,000 U.S. radio stations encouraging people not to use the phone while on the road. Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the largest U.S. wireless service providers, have ad campaigns aimed at discouraging texting and driving. “It’s more than just teenagers, and the Pew study speaks to that,” says John Walls, CTIA’s vice-president for public affairs. “It’s an activity that has no age boundaries. It’s not surprising but disappointing that adults are texting while driving.” Verizon Wireless is owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group.
Focus groups have shown that many teens have seen their parents and older siblings send or read messages while piloting a vehicle, Madden says.
Not Just Kids
Pew’s findings may change the way opponents of the practice approach…