Pay close attention to these facts about distracted driving
Nearly everyone owns a cellphone, and most adults drive.
That makes for a potentially dangerous combination of distracted-driving activities such as texting, reading emails, surfing the internet and playing electronic games. State Farm has been surveying cellphone-using drivers for the past eight years, looking for trends in behaviors and insights on how well motorists understand the laws. To test your own knowledge, ask yourself if you agree or disagree with the following statements:
Distracted driving mainly involves cellphone behaviors including texting, talking on the phone and surfing the internet.
Actually, it’s much broader than that. Other distracting activities evaluated by State Farm include talking to passengers, checking on kids or pets in the vehicle, eating, and listening to loud music. But the rapid embrace of cellphones has greatly expanded the potential for distracted-driving accidents. The State Farm survey examined 11 behaviors tied exclusively to cellphones.
Distracted-driving behaviors continue to increase as more people use cellphones.
One surprise in the latest survey was that cellphone distractions didn’t increase noticeably compared with similar surveys conducted in recent years, though the real answer depends on which behavior you’re talking about. Some activities have risen a bit, such as reading and responding to emails, taking photos or recording videos. However, people say they’re texting while driving about the same as in past years, and respondents report that they’re talking less using hand-held cellphones while driving.
Young drivers are more likely to engage in distracted cellphone use.
This is true. Survey respondents in the 18-29 age group admit that they engage in distracting behaviors more than drivers overall, with noticeably higher rates of reading and responding to emails, taking photos, recording videos, playing games, talking on handheld cellphones, accessing the internet and texting. The good news, so to speak, is that while cellphone-driving behaviors remain high for young motorists, they have dropped a bit compared with prior-year surveys.
Drivers who have been involved in prior accidents are more likely to engage in distracting behaviors.
You would think these motorists have learned their lessons, but apparently that’s not the case. State Farm asked respondents about a range of distracting and unsafe behaviors, including eating, speeding, listening to loud music, driving while drowsy and self-grooming. In all nine categories, accident survivors say they continue to engage in these behaviors at higher rates than motorists in general. For example, 57 percent of accident survivors continue to eat while driving, compared with 46 percent of other motorists.
The sample size wasn’t huge — State Farm surveyed about 1,000 people overall, with 400-plus respondents among both the accident and non-accident groups — but the results still are telling.
Most states ban texting while driving.
Yes, they do. All states except Arizona, Missouri, Montana and Texas ban this, according to State Farm. The District of Columbia and 13 states, including neighboring California and Nevada, also prohibit motorists from using a handheld cellphone while driving. Arizona isn’t among these 13 states.
However, laws are tighter in certain jurisdictions — even in Arizona. According to AAA Arizona, Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff all ban texting while driving, and Coconino County bans the use of hand-held cellphones while driving. Certain categories of motorists, such as school-bus drivers, face tougher restrictions than the general population.