Many people think teens are more likely to text and drive or participate in other driving distractions. But a new study finds that parents are just as guilty!
Most public service announcements about the dangers of distracted driving focus on teens and young adults, but there's another demographic in need of a wake up call: parents. A new study found that parents are not only engaging in risky driving behavior, but are also doing so with their driving-age teens along for the ride.
Liberty Mutual teamed up with Students Against Destructive Decisions to survey over 1,000 parents and 2,000 junior and senior high school students across the country. Of those surveyed, 83 percent said their parents engaged in risky behavior while in the car with them. Parents admitted to talking on a cellphone while driving the most, at 86 percent. Eighty percent of parents admitted to speeding and 40 percent said they have texted while driving with their teen in the car.
Teens noticed their parents' distracted driving, and 60 percent said they tried to stop their parents from driving dangerously. While 84 percent of parents said they did stop their behavior when asked, 41 percent of teens said their parents did not actually stop, but justified their behavior or ignored them.
Parents' "do as I say, not as I do" attitude towards distracted driving has been studied before. Last year, researchers at the University of Michigan asked 600 parents about their driving habits. Almost 90 percent of those surveyed admitted to at least one technology-based distracted driving action over the past month, and most parents reported engaging in four of the ten distractions that were asked about. Parents who reported distracted driving were also more likely to report having been in a crash. Additionally, an AT&T study found that 49 percent of adults admitted to texting while driving, compared to 43 percent of teens.
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