A new study reports that despite legislation prohibiting the practice, a significant majority of college students in the San Diego area use their cell phones while driving. According to a representative from the California Highway Patrol, college students are often over confident in their ability to perform multiple tasks while operating a moving automobile. The study surveyed nearly 5,000 students at San Diego area colleges including the University of San Diego, San Diego State University, California State San Marcos, the University of California San Diego, and eight other area colleges, of the estimated 78 percent of the students surveyed reported using a mobile phone to talk or text while behind the wheel of a moving motor vehicle, onlyone in four students reported habitually using a hands free device when driving. About 50 percent of the students surveyed reported sending text messages while driving on the freeway, 60 percent said they text message in city street stop and go traffic, and 87 percent reported sending text messages while stopped at a traffic light. Only 12 percent of the students surveyed reported abstaining completely from text messaging while driving.
As a Burlingame auto accident lawyer, I have seen the problems that can arise when motorists take their attention away from the road ahead of them. If you have been harmed in an accident involving a distracted driver, please consider contacting a car accident lawyer in San Jose.