A new study offers encouraging news about teen behavior. Generally, risky behavior like drinking, drug use and risky sex has declined materially. Unfortunately, teens continue to text while driving at an alarming rate.
The survey of risky teen behavior has been conducted every two years since 1991 and, for the most part, the trends are hard to miss. Most risky behavior has declined statistically every year. Fewer than 16% of teens smoke, for example, the lowest rate since the government started doing the survey.
However, 41% of teen drivers reported that they had texted or e-mailed while driving in the previous month, an astounding rate for a problem that we know to be perhaps the single most dangerous driving behavior.
As detailed elsewhere in this site, texting while driving is a behavior that implicates the three most significant types of driving distraction: visual (eyes off road); manual (hands off wheel); and cognitive (brain off task of driving). We regularly travel to local high schools and civic organizations to give presentations on the dangers of texting and driving, making the point that there is solid evidence the behavior is even more dangerous than drunk driving!
Purchase, George & Murphey, P.C. Can Help
If you or a member of your family has been injured in an accident by a distracted driver in Erie or elsewhere in northwest Pennsylvania, you can contact the experienced Erie car accident attorneys at Purchase, George & Murphey, P.C. for a free evaluation of your case. We are experienced Pennsylvania car accident lawyers and would be pleased help you. Call toll free 814.273.2010 or locally 814.273.2010 for your free consultation today.