South Dakota’s #1… in teens risking their lives and ours by texting and driving. So says new survey data from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio:
The study, done in conjunction with researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The Ohio State University, looked at Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 35 states.
The study, published today in Journal of Adolescent Health, found that nearly 2 in 5 teen drivers age 14 years and older had texted while driving at least once in the month prior to the survey, despite the fact that 34 of 35 states in the study ban text messaging for drivers 21 years and younger. Texting while driving prevalence varied by state, from 26% in Maryland to 64% in South Dakota. More teens texted while driving in states with a lower minimum learner’s permit age and in states where a larger percentage of students drove. White teens were more likely to text while driving than students of all other races/ethnicities. Texting while driving prevalence doubled between ages 15 and 16 years, and it continued to increase substantially for ages 17 years and up [Nationwide Children’s Hospital, press release, 2018.08.20].
I’d love to get data from Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin to compare with our rates. The map shows that the upper Great Plains have the worst five states for teen texting and driving… which I might speculate could have something to do with lots more wide open spaces where drivers think they don’t need to pay as much attention to the long, straight roads. Hmmm… I guess on the good side, even though we have more teens texting and driving, there’s less for them to run into out on the highway. But we need to get kids into driving habits that will serve them well on any roads, including the busier roads they’ll encounter when they go to the Cities for university or jobs or Vikings games.
The published study notes that texting while driving increases the risk of crashing by two to nine times, in part because texting distracts drivers three ways from keeping between the ditches:
- Visual: you’re looking at the screen instead of the road.
- Physical: your hands are on your phone, not the wheel (or the gear shift… which reminds me, parents: getting your kids a car with manual transmission helps keep them from using their phones to make manual transmissions while driving!).
- Cognitive: your brain is focused on typing.
Boys and girls report similar levels of texting and driving, but white teens report more distracted driving than black, Hispanic, and “other” teens.
Whatever the reasons for South Dakota’s survey-topping rate of teen texting and driving, kids, cut it out! Put down your phones, focus on the road… and watch out for bicycles!
Put down your phones, focus on the road… and watch out for bicycles! – AND DEER!!!
The times seem to be changing. I am an old person not necessarily familar with new technology, so correct me if I am mistaken. Newer cars these days have all sorts of contraptions that enable sending text messages without looking away from the road or taking your hands off the wheel. In the old days texting required using your fingers to press on a keyboard, but apparently that has changed for more modern texting. Through bluetooth and other magical devices it appears all you have to do is simply say something like:
“Hey google, send a text to so and so that says blah, blah, blah” and google does the rest. This seems less distracting than the old days of looking for a radio station you liked or making a phone call with your car’s bluetooth telephone. As technology changes it would seem that we should be careful about how we address the texting issue for everyone, including knowledgable teens.
BCB … An excellent post. A friend (65 yr old) just bought a new Honda Accord. So much new tech it’s fascinating how easy and safe driving is. I’ll bet teens get hand me down cars and buy older cars without these accoutrements. As this old fuddy would preach … discipline is a good skill to work on, young people.
BCB is right about the tech in cars. Mine isn’t that new, 2013, but i can make phone calls, check or write texts or emails, all entirely verbally. I don’t because it’s still distracting and I don’t know how I’d live with myself if I caused an accident that resulted in the suffering or death of others.
“More teens texted while driving in states with a lower minimum learner’s permit age.”
This has to be true based on brain development. The younger a teenager is, the less they are able to recognize and assess risk. That’s why they think they are bulletproof and scare the hell out of their parents.
I don’t know what the rate is, but Minnesota has anti-texting and driving laws with penalties for all ages. First license is not available till age 16 and there is a particular penalty for teens. Since I have none, I didn’t really pay a great deal of attention, but I think temporary or permanent revocation of the learner’s license is part of it. That means the teen couldnt get a license till age 18.
So SD teens text while driving and SD teens suicide at a high rate compared to the rest of the nation. Does the SDGOP, currently leading (more or less) the state, have any plans to help the state’s youth? I mean any real, concrete, proven effective plans? At all? Anything?
Debbi … Maybe CO isn’t on Cory’s map because we’re pretty strict on kids driving. (My daughter slid on the ice into the back of a cop car, the first week she had her license.) I didn’t laugh … when she was looking. :)
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At age 16, individuals are eligible for a learner’s permit. During this stage individuals may only drive when accompanied by a licensed parent or guardian, an adult at least 20 years old who has held a driver’s license for at least 4 or more suspension-free consecutive years, or a driving instructor.
Passenger restrictions
Teens with a permit:
Teens with a permit must be accompanied by a driving instructor, parent, legal guardian or a licensed adult 21 years of age or older (authorized by parent/guardian) in the front seat, buckled up.
Teens with a license:
> For the first six months, no passengers under 21, unless a parent or other licensed adult driver is in the vehicle.
> For the next six months, one passenger under age 21 (unsupervised).
> Siblings and passengers with medical emergencies are exceptions.
> At any time, no more than one passenger is allowed in the front seat.
Mandatory seat belts
By law, ALL teen drivers and passengers must wear seat belts (no sharing!).
Cell phones and texting banned
Teens under age 18 are prohibited from using a cell phone while driving. Teens can be fined and may risk losing their license. Exceptions include emergency calls to the police or fire department.
Not only do they text and drive, but they don’t wear seatbelts either. So when they crash they’ll be thrown clear of the wreckage.
Have you fellows seen those bicyclists who are futzing with their phones while they bike??!? That is just insaner than most. Heck, back in my day we could steer the car with our knee while we occupied our hands elsewhere, but these dangerous bicyclists are totally out of control with the phones and their texting and social biking messes. I see a law needed.
Wait a minute, 34 out of the 35 states have laws against texting and driving and adolescents still do it!? Unbelievable! Unforeseeable! Preposterous! Next, you’ll try to tell me people drink beers before they turn 21 or smoke cigarettes before 18. That’s just nonsense. Must be unique to SD.
Seems to be something only republican legislators can do something about, eh, debbo? Blue states don’t have criminals, or idiots for that matter.
It’s not just the teens, when I’m trucking
About 9 out if ten vehicles I meet (yes other s semis) have their heads down in their phones
C’mon people……SD is really bad cause of open roads. I know if two spills in past year that were text related. Enforcement doesn’t enforce the $100 penalty for cars and over $2000 for semis I think.
Huron SD has offences for anything distractions; eating, drinking, putting on make-up etc.
T is right. I see folks on their phones texting all the time. They wander from lane to lane oblivious of anything around them. When you get their attention they all like to give this weird one finger wave as well. I think it must be some sort of a brotherhood signal or something. . .
I don’t think passing more laws in addition to our present laws will change the behavior. I simply think people have become so narcissistic they just don’t care about others.
People didn’t “become” more narcissistic, social media just made it easier to feed into everyone’s narcissism and self-absorption. The “kids these days” talk is trite and tired as hell.
Ryan, 35 out of those 35 states have laws against drinking and driving, and people still drink and drive in every one of them.
Cory, my sarcasm either wasn’t thick enough or was just poorly executed. I was making fun of f*#kin stupid laws and the idiots who think those f*#kin stupid laws do anything.
You have kids, right? Do you actually think state laws or city ordinances have absolutely any impact on adolescents? The only impact on kids is personal influence. Good parents. Good friends. Good neighbors.
Good laws backed up with responsible and fair enforcement support my parental efforts as surely as wise and fairly enforced school policies. Good laws arise from good parents, friends, and neighbors working together to express the common will and promote the common good.
There are a lot of “good kids and good parents” out there, however they are distracted by a little device people are distracted by and an urgency created by technology to respond when ever a ring or tone goes off while driving
It took MADD and others to speak up and demand law enforcement to crack down on DUI. Until it isn’t socially or legally enforced, it will continue. My question is how many lives will be sacrificed for it’s more than a $100 fine ?…… our enforcement will ask “have you been drinking?” But have not yet heard them ask at incidents, “were you on your cell phone?” Two spills I mentioned earlier, both young drivers told friends they were “texting”
I assume if insurance companies knew this, the grain or trailers wouldn’t have been covered.
Just an assumption, do not know that for sure how insurance stands with the texting thing .