Last updated April 12, 2019
Despite the great majority of motorists freely admitting that they believe that driving and using a new or old cell phone do not mix, an alarming amount confess that they still continue to combine both of those activities anyway. A new survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for their annual Traffic Safety Culture Index has found that this contradictory behavior among motorists shows no sign of abating – and for the fourth year in a row.
“This research continues to illustrate a ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’ attitude that persists among drivers, and perpetuates the threat of cell phone use while driving,” says the president and chief executive officer of the group, Peter Kissinger. “Changing our nation’s traffic safety culture requires drivers to take responsibility for their actions and later their own behaviors on the road.”
The AAA survey found that as many as 88 percent of drivers feel talking on a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle is dangerous, yet two thirds of them also admitted to having committed such an act in the course of the previous 30 days. As many as 67.7 per cent of all drivers surveyed admitted to still talking on their cell phone while driving, despite as many as 95 per cent of all the drivers surveyed being as worried about emailing while driving as they are drinking and driving.