Some 80 percent of Americans use their cellphone while driving (100 percent of people on the 7 train do so as well), and you know why? Because “social etiquette” demands that people be in constant contact with each other, so people feel pressured to responds immediately to text messages and phone calls. That’s what a national insurance agency, Nationwide, found in taking a survey of 1,503 drivers last month.
I guess it’s not surprising that people drive wrecklessly—that’s part of the fun!—but what is surprising is that it’s not teens doing’ all the textin’. Nope, adults aged 31-44 are the worst, with 80 percent of them using their cellphone while driving. Compare that to 60 percent of teens and 65 percent of 45-61 year-olds.
I guess the only remaining data point we’d need to officially freak out is how many car accidents there have been since cellphones became ubiquitous. Should there be an increase, we could form a lobby, “People Against Cellphone Driving,” PACD. That makes no sense.