According to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the prevalence of drivers using handheld cell phones at any given daylight moment decreased from 5.2 percent in 2012 to 2.5 percent in 2021.
Though that’s seemingly good news, the danger of combining devices and driving remains.
In fact, the NOPUS found that the percentage of drivers manipulating handheld electronic devices increased from 1.5 percent in 2012 to 3.4 percent in 2021. Activities that fall under the umbrella of manipulating handheld electronic devices include text messaging, a behavior that an overwhelmingly high percentage of drivers recognize is dangerous.
But in spite of 96 percent of drivers acknowledging in a recent AAA survey that texting or emailing while driving is a serious or very serious threat to their safety, nearly 40 percent of drivers admitted they had read a text or email while behind the wheel.
In addition, 29 percent of survey respondents admitted to typing a text message or email while driving.
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