Sixty percent of teenagers admit to reading incoming text messages while driving, according to a study of teen driving habits conducted by Vlingo.
Teens are new, inexperienced drivers who tend to have a higher accident rate than that of older, more experienced drivers, and the survey suggests that teens are also at a heightened risk of distracted driving caused by text messaging.
However, teens are widely supportive of a ban on text messaging. Sixty-two percent of teens support making driving while texting illegal. If a hands-free solution is available, only 34 percent favor making texting while driving illegal. In addition, 90 percent of teens would use a hands-free technology to handle text and e-mail messages by voice.
"It is our responsibility to look into innovative solutions that embrace these consumer usage trends to make the roads safer," said Dave Grannan, CEO of Vlingo, in a statement. Vlingo specializes in voice-recognition technology for handsets.
The issue of texting while driving has come to national attention after a series of high-profile accidents were caused by the practice. The Senate is currently considering a bill that would require states to ban texting while driving or risk losing federal highway funds just weeks after a distracted driving summit hosted by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The Vlingo study was based on a survey of almost 5,000 U.S. residents over the age of 13, which was matched to U.S. Census proportions on gender, age and ethnicity. It also included about 100 respondents from each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states.
Respondents were screened for mobile phone ownership and usage. The survey was conducted by an independent research firm and has a statistical accuracy of +/- 1.41 percent.