Survey Finds More Than Half Of Students Text And Drive

By Rokia Hassanein, The Diamondback

Photo Courtesy of Tom Hausman

A recent University of Maryland public health school study revealed that 52 percent of students surveyed said they have texted and driven at least once in the past month, and they were more likely to do so if they saw their significant other doing it.

"The thing that did not surprise me was that the texting driver also engages in other forms of risky driving," said Kenneth Beck, a behavioral and community health professor and leader of the study. "The thing that did surprise me was that over half of our participants said that they have driven while texting in the past month. This is a prevalent problem."

The study, which was funded internally by the school's Designated Research Initiative Fund and is published in the journal Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, surveyed 861 students and is estimated to have cost about $10,000, Beck said.

Prior to the survey — which is based on 2014 data — there were a series of student focus group interviews that helped develop the survey questions used within this study, Beck said.

"They told us in our focus group interview study that they are strongly attached to their cellphone and consider it rude not to respond to an incoming call from one of their friends, even if they are driving," Beck said. "Obviously, they see very little risk in doing so while driving, and greater social risk if they do not."

And although using a cellphone while driving is illegal, Beck said, it's an under-enforced crime.