Many Pennsylvania drivers may think that texting and driving is dangerous but may do it anyway. According to a Progressive Insurance survey, 97 percent of women and 88 percent of men believe that texting and driving should be illegal. However, more than 20 percent of men thought they could safely text and drive while only about 11 percent of women thought this.
The survey was conducted online in August 2017 and there were responses from about 1,000 drivers who were not Progressive customers. There was a large split by age in perceptions around texting and driving. For example, among 18 to 34-year-olds, nearly two-thirds said they are able to safely drive and text. Among drivers 55 and older, fewer than 6 percent said they felt safe doing so.
Among drivers of all ages, two-thirds said they believed that texting while driving or looking at phone screens was a major cause of car accidents in the United States. More than 80 percent believed that texting while driving was reason enough to pull over a driver. Drivers also named what they believed were acceptable activities. These included listening to music, looking at a map and calling someone. Distracted driving is a serious problem with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributing 3,477 deaths and 391,000 injuries in motor vehicle accidents in 2015 to it.
When some form of distracted driving does result in an accident, the driver who caused the accident is generally considered financially responsible. That driver’s insurance company should pay the expenses of the injured people, but the person could be uninsured or the insurance company might not offer enough. While there may not be charges against the driver since distracted driving can be difficult to prove in a criminal court, a civil suit, which has a lower burden of proof, could be successful.
