ABUSE_MAGAZINE_ID_ Illinois issue | Page 19

stop the wrecks FACT #25 44% of adults say they have been passengers of drivers who used the cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger. FACT #26 36% of teens say they have been involved in a near-crash because of their own or someone else’s distracted driving. 22% of teens who drive while distracted say it makes driving less boring. FACT #16 21% of teens who drive while distracted say they’re used to being connected to people all the time. FACT #27 While over 90% of teen drivers say they don’t drink and drive, 9 out of 10 say they’ve seen passengers distracting the driver, or drivers using cell phones. Photo source: mytown.kotatv.com FACT #15 FACT #17 35% of teens who drive while distracted don’t think they’ll get hurt. FACT #18 20% of teens who share vehicles had texted while driving, compared to 35% who own their own cars. FACT #19 Photo source: www.uhasselt.be 23 is the average number of texts per month that teens who text and drive admit to sending. FACT #20 FACT #10 60% of drivers use cell phones while driving. 77% of young adult drivers are very/ somewhat confident that they can safely text while driving. FACT #21 FACT #11 57% of drivers rate themselves as better than the average driver. 55% of young adult drivers agree that it’s easy to text and pay attention to driving at the same time. FACT #12 FACT #22 An online survey of 1,999 teens ages 16-19 found that 86% had driven while distracted even though 84% know it’s dangerous. 85% of respondents who text while driving agree that texting while driving is a problem and 89% recognize that the behavior reduces reaction time. FACT #13 FACT #23 34% of teens who drive while distracted simply say they’re used to multi-tasking. FACT #14 32% of teens who drive while distracted don’t think anything bad will happen to them. FACT #28 Distracted driving is the number one killer of American teens. Alcohol-related accidents among teens have dropped, but teenage traffic fatalities have remained unchanged because distracted driving is on the rise. FACT #29 About half of drivers 16 to 24 said they had texted while driving, compared with 22 percent of drivers 35 to 44. Brain power used while driving decreases by 40% when a driver listens to conversation or music. FACT #24 49% of adults say they have been passengers in a car when the driver was sending or reading text messages on their cell phone. abusemagazine.org | Illinois Spring/Summer 2013 | 19