Washington – In the United States, where driving while using telephones without hands-free adaptor kits and SMSing at the wheel are not widely illegal, one in four people confesses to sending messages while driving, a survey published on Wednesday found.
“We often like to say 26% of people admit to driving while texting. We are sure that underestimates the problem,” said Dave Grannan, of Vlingo, a mobile voice application company that polled 4 800 people.
The news comes as those polled revealed that SMSing – often seen as more typical behaviour for young people – generally has spread to older people: 60% of all cellphone users are SMSing, the survey found.
And that means that more people are potentially SMSing at the wheel. The practice is currently banned in only seven US states and the capital city.
Twenty-six percent of those surveyed said they could not resist a bit of SMSing while driving, it found. The Hall of Shame went to Tennessee where 42% admit to indulging in the dangerous behaviour.
And “in our survey, the youngest and least experienced drivers those 16 to 19, they admit by 66% driving while texting. That’s scary,” said Grannan.
“Despite more states adding the laws, and despite some high profile accidents, people are still driving while texting at the same rate they were a year ago,” he said, noting: “we would have thought it would go down because of the public awareness and public policy”.
Last year, authorities in Los Angeles said the conductor of a train involved in a rail crash that left 25 people dead was sending text messages on his cellphone during working hours.
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