|
|
Too many teens are trying to do this and drive at the same time, according to the CDC.
Photo: AP Wire Image
Larger | More
|
|
|
Sign Up for Email News Updates!
|
|
by Alan McBride
ORLANDO, FLA. -- The Centers or Disease Control released new data Thursday on the issue of teenagers who text or email while driving.
According to the information from the CDC survey, approximately 58 percent of the high school seniors who were questioned admitted that they had texted or emailed while behind the wheel.
Sergeant Kim Montes, Florida Highway Patrol, says she and others in her profession suspect the figures are actually higher than 58 percent.
"I don't think that we're able to track accurately the actual number of crashes that are caused by texting because a lot of that is self-reporting," she said. "We know it's a bigger problem than what's actually being reported."
She says it's likely that teens who decide to shade the truth about texting, driving, and then getting into an accident do so because they don't want the additional penalties that can be brought to bear, or don't want the embarrassment and the lectures about safe driving habits.
And, at that age, there is the absolute conviction of invincibility among teenagers.
Montes notes that it isn't just the teens who are texting and driving.
She says she has seen plenty of adults doing the same thing, despite repeated warnings that a car is not an office or a wi-fi hot-spot for tweeting or updating the facebook status.
She says this is the kind of behavior that leads to accidents; and, the busier the roads, the worse the possible outcomes.
If a person's eyes and attention are not focused on the road and the surrounding traffic, that person is leaving the situation wide open for bad things to happen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gas Prices
Click
here for an interactive map!
|
|
