A recent study suggests that many parents have a hard time staying off of the phone when driving, even when their kids are in the back seat.
In the study, over 750 parents and caregivers with kids ages 4 to 10 were polled. Among the things these parents were asked about is what sort of conduct they had engaged in when driving with their kids in the car over the previous three months. Of the surveyed parents:
- Half reported using a cellphone while driving
- Around one-third said they had read text messages when driving
- One-fourth reported sending text messages while driving
- One-seventh said they had used social media when driving
There are many problems that can be triggered by parents engaging in distracted driving. When parents do such things behind the wheel, they can be:
- Endangering their own safety
- Putting their kids in harm’s way
- Putting other drivers, passengers, bicyclists and pedestrians at risk of getting hit
- Setting a bad example for their kids, which could have negative consequences when their kids reach driving age
However, despite this, cellphone use behind the wheel appears to remain very prevalent among parents. Why do you think this is the case?
This also reflects the wider problem of cellphone use behind the wheel currently being a very common thing out in the roads generally, despite the accident risks. How big of a problem do you feel distracted driving currently is here in Florida? What do you think it will take to properly address this problem?
