Lots Of People Text Message While Driving

from the not-good dept

A new study in the UK points out that over one-quarter of people surveyed say they use a mobile phone while driving - something that will become illegal in the UK later this year (though, many say they'll ignore the law). That's not the scary part, though. The study found that 10% of people surveyed say they write text messages while driving. To me, that's insane. At least if you're on the phone, you're keeping your eyes on the road. However, the write a text message you have to repeatedly remove your eyes from the road. The fact that 10% of the population sees no problem with it is quite scary.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Ryan, 22 Sep 2003 @ 1:15am

    re: Lots Of People Text Message While Driving

    Some people who text message quite often can triple-tap without looking down. I'm not advocating the practice, just sharing.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Billy J. West Jr., 22 Sep 2003 @ 2:18am

    Re: Lots Of People Text Message While Driving

    Can they read the response without looking down as well?
    I've seen people driving while reading the newspaper. I think getting caught doing something like this should be a manditory 30 to 60 days suspended license, possibly even impounding of vehicle during that timeframe.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2003 @ 6:59am

    Re: Lots Of People Text Message While Driving

    Remember back in school when the teachers would have you write sentences on the blackboard when you were bad ?
    I think the offending SMS texter should be forced to sit in the police office and text the message: " I will not text message while driving " 1000 times ... prefferably to tele-markets who do not follow the " Do Not Call " list ...

    That oughta do it :-)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    tamera, 20 Oct 2007 @ 10:06am

    t

    i love you ss

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.