Texting while driving is dangerous
Although 89 percent of the 2,049 adults polled online by Harris Interactive said texting while driving was dangerous and should be banned, and 92 percent said it was as bad as having a few drinks and driving, 66 percent of respondents admitted to reading text messages while at the wheel.
Slightly fewer — 57 percent — said they write and send messages while driving, the survey, conducted between June 29 and July 3, showed.
Respondents between the ages of 18 and 34 were the most likely to send or read text messages while at the wheel: 72 percent said they sent messages from their mobile phones and 79 percent that they read them while in control of a vehicle.
The lowest rate of mobile phone texting while driving was seen in the 55-plus age group, the survey, which was commissioned by the California-based voice messaging service provider, Pinger Inc., showed.
A study conducted last year by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and US National Highway Safety Administration found that driver distraction was to blame in almost 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes.
The main cause of driver distraction was mobile telephone use, according to the study cited by the Insurance Information Institute (III) on its website.
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