CHANDLER, ARIZ. — A great disconnect exists between attitudes held by young adults about texting while driving and their willingness to engage in this risky behavior, new research shows.
Among 426 university freshman surveyed, 53% felt they cannot safely text and drive, yet 73% admit they text while behind the wheel.
Moreover, 84% of these young adults ride with drivers who text.
Overall, 92% of students felt that texting while driving affects their concentration “somewhat” or “a lot,” and is less safe than talking on a cell phone, Dr. Laura Buchanan said at the annual meeting of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. Of all respondents to the anonymous Web-based survey, 60% said it should be illegal to text and drive.
This disconnect between attitudes and behavior is attributable in part to the use of rationalization by young adults, said Dr. Buchanan, a general surgery resident at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
“A fear-provoking situation can lead to one of two behaviors: fear control—or explaining away the danger in your mind—or danger control—actually changing your behavior,” she said. “Young adults and teenagers overwhelmingly will respond with fear control rather than danger control.”
Young adults are not the only ones engaged in rationalization. Safety officials cited texting by the train engineer as the primary cause of the September 2008 commuter train crash that killed 25 people and injured 135 in California. Even police officers have been found texting prior to being involved in fatal crashes.
Comprehensive data on texting while driving is not available, but the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that 20% of motor vehicle collisions involve a driver who was talking or texting on a cell phone. Because texting relies on touch and sight, the cognitive load of the communication is far greater than a conversation with a passenger, Dr. Buchanan said.
In the survey, 67% of students said texting was more useful than speaking on the phone. More than half (52%) said they text more than 50 times per day, and 72% said they text during class.
The study was limited by a 10% response rate and lack of individual demographic data on the respondents, but it raises important questions about injury prevention, she said. Legislation may play an important role in reducing texting while driving; however, only 63% of drivers in a recent insurance survey said they plan to abide by such laws.
Last year, legislators called for a national texting ban, but the idea failed to gain enough momentum for approval. As of late January 2010, 19 states and the District of Columbia ban texting while driving, but the laws vary widely, Dr. Buchanan said. In four states, texting is a secondary offense, meaning that a driver must commit some other infraction before an officer can act. In other states, the prohibition only goes into effect in construction or school zones or for drivers under 18 years of age.
“Education and awareness are obviously needed, but just as legislation has not stopped drunk driving it's not likely to stop texting while driving,” she said. “Shock tactics such as graphic videos tend to reinforce the 'this-could-never-happen-to-me' thinking of young adults.”
Part of the solution may be to target youths at an early age, as is done with bicycle helmet campaigns, Dr. Buchanan said in an interview. Study participants averaged just 14 years of age when they received their first cell phone, and they began texting at age 15.
A related video is at www.youtube.com/InternalMedicineNews