!["Hey mom, thought we weren't allowed to talk on the cell while driving?" Be an example to your kids.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/hash/6c/00/6c006bb4aebf95e34bff9ee570368cd1.jpg ""Hey mom, thought we weren't allowed to talk on the cell while driving?" Be an example to your kids.")
Our kids are known to take what goes in their ears and then repeat it through their mouths. Usually not at the best times.
Being an example to our children is part of parenting. Kids and teens will emulate what you do. That goes for your driving habits too.
The dangers of texting and driving as well as talking and driving are very well known. Texting and using a cell phone while driving can lead to deadly results.
According to a recent Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project:
- Nearly half (47%) of all texting adults say they have sent or read a text message while driving. That compares to one in three (34%) texting teens ages 16-17 who said they had “texted while driving” in a September 2009 survey.1
- Looking at the general population, this means that 27% of all American adults say they have sent or read text messages while driving. That compares to 26% of all American teens ages 16-17 who reported texting at the wheel in 2009.
- Three in four (75%) cell-owning adults say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. Half (52%) of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 reported talking on a cell phone while driving in the 2009 survey.
- Among all adults, that translates into 61% who have talked on a cell phone while driving. That compares to 43% of all American teens ages 16-17 who said they had talked on their phones while driving in the 2009 survey.
- Half (49%) of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver was sending or reading text messages on their cell phone. The same number (48%) of all teens ages 12-17 said they had been in a car “when the driver was texting.”2
- 44% of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver used the cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger. About the same number of teens (40%) said they had been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a dangerous way.
- Beyond driving, one in six (17%) cell-owning adults say they have physically bumped into another person or an object because they were distracted by talking or texting on their phone. That amounts to 14% of all American adults who have been so engrossed in talking, texting or otherwise using their cell phones that they bumped into something or someone.
What are your children seeing while you drive?
Comments
yap, kids always do what we always do or imitate
www.kidscareguide.info
Spot on, Sue...My texting teen knows when I 'go dark' I'm driving. Period. And not to bug me until I resurface. Even just to reply Y or N is a focus issue and I won't do it. She just has to freakin' wait. And I keep reminding myself it's teaching her I'm walkin' the walk. That said, she just breezed by and zinged me, "hey, mom, don't tell me about texting, you've been on Twitter all day." Signing off now...Happy 4th!
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