Anti-Texting And Driving Survey Shows People Addicted To Their Phones
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Texting and driving. It is dangerous, deadly and many people are still doing it. Every day in the United States, nine people are killed and more than a thousand are injured from distracted driving.
Tracey Leong looks at a new surprising study about this road hazard.
This new study shows that while most people know it's dangerous to text and drive, 74 percent admit they still do it.
Texting while driving can have deadly consequences.
"An old friend of mine, I knew him since I was eight years of age, really nice guy. He died instantly. Cars were stopped, had a complete stop, and he just took his eyes off for a complete second and that was it, it was all over," said Richard Dalcin, driver.
Distracted drivers are a danger to everyone on the road. Every year, more than 3,000 people are killed and distracted drivers are 23 times more likely to crash.
"Things happen on our highways very, very quickly. And experts will tell you just how far you travel in a second or two at highway speeds, and you have to have time to react," said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police.
As part of an anti-texting and driving campaign, AT&T sponsored a new survey to look at smart phone behavior and understand why people text and drive. The results show people are addicted to their phones.
"These phones are like little slot machines and they've conditioned us to keep checking them over and over again because every once in a while there's something good there and you don't know when and you don't know what," said Dr. David Greenfield, who treats technology addiction.
"You want to know who's texting you and what it is. You might have a message or might have an email, so you're like, 'I might as well just do it,'" said driver Justin Forrest.
Forrest, 21, says he may be addicted to his phone, but it's not worth a life.
"I would not crash any car that I'm driving, I'd rather not text and drive," he said.
The survey urges drivers to download "DriveMode." The app detects when a person is moving 15 miles per hour or faster and silences text messages.
The DriveMode app is available for Android and Blackberry phones in addition to smart phones.
Around two million people have downloaded the free app.
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