Driven to distraction

When you’re driving around the Edwardsville area, it’s not unusual at all to spot drivers talking on their phones or looking at their phones rather than keeping their attention focused on the traffic and streets. Unfortunately, the inattention to vehicles and traffic signals often winds up causing motor vehicle accidents and injuries.

A recent survey of American drivers uncovered an interesting fact about which age group uses their phones the most while driving. While you might reasonably expect that the youngest drivers are the ones most likely to phone-gaze, you would be wrong. Millennials (born from the early 1980s to late 1990s) are actually worse than the younger members of Generation Z (born in the late ’90s and onward).

Seventy-one percent of Gen Z drivers admit that they use their phones while driving, while 81 percent of millennials say that they use their phones while behind the wheel. Older drivers (born between 1928 and 1945) had the lowest percentage: 59.

One surprising finding from the survey is that 73 percent admit to using their phones while driving, which is higher than the percentage for the overall population (66). Even worse, a third of parents admit that they use their phones even while their children are in the vehicle with them.

The most common use by drivers of the phones is to make or receive calls, but 60 percent say they also send texts. Fifty-six percent say they check notifications while driving, and an astonishing 22 percent say that they video chat while driving.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by a distracted driver, contact a law firm experienced in helping injury victims get maximum compensation for all damages.