No matter how many laws are enforced, no matter how many public service announcements are put on television or on YouTube, no matter how many deaths transpire, texting while driving is still a common thing for motorists to do, whether they’re driving on the highway or at a standstill on city streets.
A new report coming from Ontario surveyed 108,000 high school students and discovered that more than one-third (36 percent) of licensed drivers in the grades 10 to 12 admitted to texting while driving – the number actually jumps to nearly half (46 percent) for licensed 12th grade students.
The 2013 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS), a biannual study conducted for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), also revealed other health factors for these survey participants, such as more than half (53 percent) rarely or never wear a helmet while riding a bicycle and 25 percent of students play video games daily or almost daily.
“We asked about texting while driving because research shows that this is a very hazardous behaviour,” said CAMH senior scientist Dr. Robert Mann in a statement. “We were surprised to find that so many young people are taking this risk.”
In Apr. 2009, the government of Ontario officially prohibited the use of mobile devices while driving. If a motorist is caught talking, texting, emailing, browsing the Internet or holding a phone then they could face a fine of up to $280.
Distracted driving has become a serious issue all over the world.
In Canada, for instance, distracted driving is now the cause of more deaths on the roads than driving under the influence, or impaired driving. Last year, the number of crashes involving distracted driving was higher than both impaired and speed-related fatalities, according to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
Statistics have found that if you are texting while operating a vehicle then you are roughly 23 times more likely to crash.
In the United States, more than 3,000 teenagers die every year from texting while driving, which is higher than the estimated 2,700 teen deaths related to drinking and driving. Many are surprised that motorists of all ages are still texting and driving, despite the growing number of national ad campaigns.
“The reality is kids aren’t drinking seven days per week — they are carrying their phones and texting seven days per week, so you intuitively know this a more common occurrence,” Dr. Andrew Adesman, Chief Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, in an interview with CBS News last year.
Some of the ad campaigns have become quite gruesome and realistic in order to grab the attention of viewers.
For instance, an ad from the United Kingdom depicted a tragic accident where the passengers are dead or severely wounded. A Werner Herzog documentary entitled “From One Second to the Next” has garnered the attention of many as it looks at those who have been personally affected by those who have text while driving and those who have been the culprit.
It may not slow down as Canadians sent more than 93 billion text messages in 2013, according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA).
