9 in 10 teenage drivers distracted? LOL

This week’s alarming numbers about nine in 10 teenage drivers engaging in distracted behaviors deserve a closer look.

The widely publicized survey, done for Seventeen magazine and AAA, talked to 2,000 drivers between the ages of 16 and 19.

86 percent of those teens said they engaged in distracted driving at some point. Pretty scary … but let’s take a look at what the survey defined as distracted driving:

The activity drawing the most affirmative responses from the teens (73 percent) was adjusting a radio/CD or MP3 player — an action they have in common with almost every driver on U.S. roads. Consuming food (61 percent) also counted as distracted driving — some truth to that, but no one’s writing laws about driving and eating these days.

Ask adults if they’ve engaged in these behaviors and you’d get an almost universal yes. Headline that report as “99.9% of Adults Distracted Drivers.”

Teens’ use of handheld cell phones — a distracted driving behavior in anyone’s book — came in at 60 percent, a number that seems more in tune with reality. Texting registered 28 percent, which seems low but remember the teens are self-reporting.

Teens say they feel singled out when it comes to legislating drivers’ cell phone use and text messaging. Perhaps that’s a necessary evil, but inflated numbers such as those being headlined in this survey do little to advance the national discussion about teens and distracted driving.

Mainstream media such as USA Today should know better — although we’ve had problems with that newspaper’s sloppy reporting on this issue before. Remember “USA Today botches cell phone report“?

Here are some more numbers from Seventeen/AAA:

Teens who did text behind the wheel averaged 23 messages a month.

84 percent of the teenage drivers said they were aware that these behaviors were dangerous. Those teens explained their reasoning as their actions will only take a split second (41 percent); they don’t think they’ll get hurt (35 percent); they’re used to multitasking (34 percent); and they don’t think that anything bad will happen to them (32 percent).

Nearly four out of 10 of the teens said they’ve been afraid of being hurt while riding with a distracted driver, and more than a third said they had almost been in an accident due to distracted driving.

Seventeen is promoting its “Two-Second Turnoff Day” (Sept. 17) and is asking readers to put together anti-distracted driving videos for the occasion.

Missouri: Show us the ban, not the logo

The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s heart seems in the right place with its new public safety campaign against texting and driving.

Certainly there’s a need: So far this year there have been 17,535 crashes in the Show Me State where distracted driving was cited as a contributing cause.

The highway patrol even arranged for a race car to bear the logo for the no-texting campaign, one of those red-cross-out designs that says “no texting.” Want a decal for your very own car? They’re free to the public as window clingers.

One slight problem. If you’re a driver 21 or older in Missouri, feel free to text to your heart’s content. It’s perfectly legal. Same with cell phone use while driving, which has killed at least eight people on state roads since Jan. 1.

The highway patrol explains, sort of:

The campaign complements Missouri’s current anti-texting law, which prohibits use of cell phones or texting devices for drivers 21 years of age and younger. (We call on) all Missouri drivers to honor the letter and the spirit of the law — regardless of age — and stop texting while driving to help make Missouri’s highways safer for all motorists.

We’re reminded of the recent Pew survey that concluded adults are just as likely to text and drive as teenagers. Texting doesn’t seem to level off until drivers are in their mid-30s.

Of course, state troopers don’t make laws, they enforce them. But consider that the various efforts to expand the texting ban to all drivers failed in Missouri’s last legislative session. The primary reason — make that, excuse? Law agencies’ complaints that enforcement would be too difficult.

The House Public Safety Committee chairman, Mark Bruns, in fact, blocked all text messaging legislation that came through his domain because “too many questions remain on how to enforce it properly.”

The highway patrol’s chief of staff attended one texting while driving hearing before Bruns and said the law agency had no position on a texting ban. But the spokesman noted that the highway patrol promoted safety.

Public safety campaigns are no substitute for laws against deadly behaviors.

The highway patrol needs to help quash talk of enforcement woes and embrace all-ages bans on handheld electronic devices.

Lawmakers need to follow the lead of distracted driving opponents such as Rep. Rodney Schad and state Sen. Ryan McKenna, who see “an epidemic” of texting on state roads and highways.

Come on, Missouri. Show us something real. Then play with race cars.

Lobbyists fight distracted driving laws

A Washington lobbying group has been pitching cell phone companies and car manufacturers on a plan to derail distracted-driving legislation, according to several media reports this week.

July 7 update: The lobbyists abandoned the effort to derail distracted driving laws after a scolding from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The lobbyists said they had succeeded in opening up the debate — at any rate they succeeded in attracting a lot of publicity /update

Oprah Winfrey and the DOT’s LaHood are seen as threats to the mobile communications industry, according to the 10-page memo obtained by the FairWarning investigative site. The memo cites a “full-throttle assault on mobile technology,” the FairWarning report says.

The Washington Post identified the lobbyists behind the push as Seward Square Group and Eris Group. Eris, however, told the Post that it had withdrawn from the effort due to client conflicts.

In response to the memo, a DOT spokesman told the Post: “We are doing everything possible to combat talking on the phone and texting while driving and others who care about safety will join our effort — not undermine it.”

DRIVE — which stands for “Drivers for Responsibility, Innovation and Vehicle Education” — plans to advocate awareness instead of laws and legislation, FairWarning reports. Spearheading the campaign would be James E. Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board for the Clinton administration, the memo says.

GPS makers, insurance companies and public safety groups also were targeted for the push, the Post said.

South Dakotans see texting ad — but no laws

South Dakota hasn’t gotten around to banning texting while driving. Two attempts at distracted driving laws crashed and burned in the Legislature this season as lawmakers fretted about personal liberties and enforcement.

Prospects for distracted driving legislation in South Dakota next session: murky at best.

But the state has a PSA.

Better than nothing.

Titans of texting take pledge, get Sparks tickets

Here’s a new one in the world of distracted-driving safety campaigns:

South Florida teens who proved themselves to be superstars of text messaging were awarded free tickets to a concert by “American Idol” star Jordin Sparks.

One catch: They had to pledge to never text and drive.

The idea for the unusual safety contest came from Stacy Kagan, an Allstate Insurance agent in Coral Springs. “We’re trying to encourage teens to be aware that texting kills,” Kagan told the Miami Herald. Allstate’s “Thumbs Up to X the TXT” has been working its way across the nation since November.

First-place “winner” Sydney Trinker turned in a cell phone bill that showed 38,000 texts in a single month. She and her family signed Allstate’s no-texting pledge — and is off to see Sparks in concert. (Teens could only submit previous cell phone bills.)

Sparks’ summer “Battlefield” tour hosts “X the TXT” events in 29 cities. “Choosing to not pick up the phone and keep your eyes on the road can be the difference between life and death,” the young singer said.

Teens who pledge not to text message and drive can add their thumbprints to a traveling banner displayed at concert stops.

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