Teens text from the driver's seat

If you've ever wondered who's driving like a bonehead up ahead, it could be a teen who's behind the wheel, steering with one hand and sending a text message with the other. According to a study from AAA and Seventeen magazine, cited by this USA Today article, almost half of teens surveyed admitted that they send text messages from the driver's seat. (The researchers interviewed about 1,000 teen drivers in the United States to compile the data.)

That dovetails with a study published Tuesday about teen cell phone habits, which commonly include texting from the classroom, movie theater and dinner table. It would seem high-school kids are cut from the cloth of the text-crazy adult in this parody video about the "CrackBerry." In the Disney Mobile/Harris Interactive study, 44 percent of U.S. teens said that text messaging is their primary form of communication.

At this rate, it won't be long before one-handed texting joins parallel parking on the driver's test.

[kraterz]

License revoked for life.

These morons should have their license revoked for life and never allowed to drive. Firm punishment is the only way to get these boneheads in line and stop endangering lives on the road.

[CoderForChrist]

Fairness

In all fairness, if you're going to revoke someone's license for SMSing behind the wheel, here's a list of things I've seen (or known someone who has seen) in traffic that can be just as bad:

Applying makeup
Reading a map
Eating
Working a crossword puzzle
Searching through a purse
Dealing with children in the back seat

And so on...

[simeyla]

another reason not to get an iPhone

it annoys me that this blog targets 'teenagers'. sure its a survey about teen phone habits, but its only interesting if teenagers are compared to 'the rest of us'.

are teens the only ones that text? of course not. i do it all the time. another reason to not get an iPhone in fact. very difficult to text while driving.

like anything you have to use common sense. do i change cds while i'm driving - yes. might i look down the side of the seat for a lost wallet. yup. would i do both these things on a tight bend at 80mph with 2 semis on either side. not so much. texting? yup all the time.

the key here I guess is that teens are inexperienced drivers so maybe that judgement isnt there, but to just yell out 'how can they be so stupid' is a little overrreactive i feel. there are opportunte moments whiel driving to text - just as there are to wind the window down or change the radio station.

the nice thing with my phone is its very easy to text quick messages. i can send a text message just as easily as I can make a call.

but iphone + driving = .... not so good. teens or no teens

[CoderForChrist]

Buttons

Yup; with normal cell phones, you can feel the buttons you're pressing. You can tell if you're hitting '5' or '9' or whatever by touch. With the iPhone's touchscreen interface, not so much...

[pdalookout]

I used to worry about my kids and their cell phone usage until I signed up with www.pdalookout.com. its the hassle free way to lookout for my kids!