It’s a fact that no parent would ever willfully do anything that would place the child in danger of an accident or injury. However, it is equally surprising to see that so many parents continue to use cell phones while driving, even when they’re driving with their child. A recent study found that a staggering number of parents use cell phones for having a conversation or texting, even when they’re driving with their children in the car.
The study which was based on a survey conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics polled about 618 parents, about their driving practices. Approximately 90% of them admitted to being distracted with various activities while they were driving with their children.
For instance, some of them admitted to chatting on a cell phone and texting while driving, while others admitted to surfing the Internet, using a GPS device to look for directions, and changing CDs and DVDs. These are just some of the distracting activities that the parents were polled on, and the survey found that parents admitted to performing many of these destructive activities. On an average, a parent performed at least four of these distracting activities while the child was in the car with him or her.
As Missouri car accident lawyers we have found evidence to show that the most common source of distraction for parents was talking on a cell phone, while texting was found to be the least common distraction. In part, that is because parents are in an age group that finds texting difficult to perform while driving. Additionally, there has been a lot of attention paid to the dangers of texting while driving, and a number of studies that have been widely reported in the media have focused on the dangers from texting at the wheel.
However, parents must realize that when they’re fiddling with radio channels, changing CDs or DVDs, snacking or drinking beverages at the wheel, their crash risks are just as high as they would be if they were using a cell phone while driving.
