Survey: Family most likely to cause distracted driving

American drivers are more likely to be distracted by queries from loved ones than by those from friends or work associates, a recent survey found.

This, along with several other insights, came from a nationwide poll conducted by the National Safety Council (NSC) with the goal of better understanding how American drivers view (and fall victim to) distracted driving habits.

The survey centered around electronic sources of distraction. As such, all respondents were required to have a driver’s license and a cell phone. What NSC wanted to learn was not the forms which distractions take, but rather who is responsible for encouraging (or even pressuring) drivers to be distracted by their electronic devices.

82% of respondents said family was the most likely to pressure them into engaging in distracted behavior, followed by work (54%) and then closely by friends (50%).

NSC President and CEO Deborah A.P. Hersman pointed out the irony of the fact that those who should care about our safety may be the most detrimental to it when it comes to distraction.

“If you really care, don’t call to say, ‘I love you,’ instead encourage your family to set everything else aside, disconnect and focus only on the road,” she said in the survey results announcement.

When responses were broken down by age, there were some shifts. Unsurprisingly, teens more often cited friends as a source of pressure to take their eyes off the road, citing them as the most likely to prompt distraction 74% of the time. That this number is so much higher than the survey average is a good indicator of how old the average respondent was.

Another clue to the survey demographics (most of which are available in the link above) came in the responses to a question regarding what social media activity drivers would engage in while driving if they were legally allowed to do so. 74% of drivers surveyed said they would use Facebook. What of twitter, YouTube and Instagram? They didn’t even break 40%.

There were some more encouraging responses. For example, 65% of drivers said they wouldn’t use social media behind the wheel even if it were legal (vs. only 20% who said the same for activities such as phone calls or using GPS apps). 79% said the same for movies or television.

Not surprisingly, when respondents were asked whether they felt that others’ distractions had put them at risk personally, 67% said yes while only 25% felt that their own (self-reported) use of technology had put them in any danger.

Photo by Drew Johnson.