Fresno State study: College drivers ignore cell phone texting law

Research at California State University, Fresno among college students indicates they willfully break state law by using cell phones to text or check e-mail while driving, even though more than two in three have experienced adverse consequences of doing so.

Distracted driving can result from eating, talking to passengers and listening to music, but they pale in comparison to texting and checking e-mails from a cell phone, concludes a study by Dr. Tamyra Pierce, an associate professor of mass communication and journalism at Fresno State.

“Texting and Driving: A Dangerous Combination,” is the latest among numerous studies Pierce has conducted about digital behavior among young people and is the first of several she plans to release this summer.

In interviews with 409 cell phone-using college students, Pierce found that 87 percent of respondents were aware of California’s year-old law forbidding drivers from using cell phones without a hands-free device. However, 49 percent of them said they text while driving despite knowing that it is against the law to do so. Of all the college students who were polled, 84% report that they text while driving. These figures are up from the 62% of young people who reported texting while driving in Pierce’s study in 2007.

“Texting while driving is hazardous at any age but it is especially dangerous for younger drivers who have not yet gained adequate driving experience,” said Pierce. “Those few seconds one looks away from the road to text on the cell phone may be the seconds the driver needs to prevent an accident — one that may be fatal.”

Past studies have found that texting while driving reduces reaction and control times even more than drinking and driving – 35 percent vs. 12 percent with a blood alcohol level within the legal limit. In addition, texting while driving also reduces steering and control of car by 91 percent.

Before the hands-free law took effect, the Public Policy Institute of California concluded that the new statute would potentially reduce auto deaths by 300 a year.

Of Pierce’s survey respondents — 196 females and 213 males age 18-25 — a majority had owned a cell phone more than 5 years and 99 percent had texting capabilities. The survey found 52 percent had a Bluetooth or other hands-free device, 81 percent had “unlimited” texting service and average usage was 1,000-3,000 texts per month.

When asked if their texting had caused any consequences, 33 percent answered that they almost hit something while texting, 21 percent missed a turn, 8 percent ran off the road, 3 percent got into an accident and 2 percent either ran a red light, hit something or got a ticket.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports vehicle accidents are one of the highest causes of death among people 33 and younger.

A study by national insurance agencies found that 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within 3 seconds of the incident.

By May, 20 states had banned the use of cell phones by teens. Texting while driving is banned in 10 states.

Pierce, who joined the Fresno State faculty in 2003, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Southwest Missouri State and her Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Columbia.