Texting, talking and other cellphone use is particularly common among drivers under age 30 and is now being described as a “deadly epidemic” by U.S. Department of Transportation officials.
A new poll conducted by the magazine Consumer Reports details 63 percent of drivers under age 30 used a handheld phone while driving in the past 30 days. Thirty percent of those drivers have also recently texted from behind the wheel, U.S. Transportation officials said. The survey had 1,026 respondents.
Ray LaHood, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, called distracted driving “a deadly epidemic.”
Consumer Reports is working with the U.S. Transportation Dept. officials on creating an increased awareness about the dangers of cell phone use while driving.
Among drivers over age 30 only 9 percent of the survey respondents said they had recently texted while driving.
Article Last Updated: March 9, 2011.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.
I suspect the poll would be even more telling if the pollsters narrowed the field to kids 18 and under, i.e. highschoolers. You would see 100 percent talking and 100 percent texting. I live near a high school.