A recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Travelers Canada between March 9 and 12, 2018 has found that it is the Millennial generation who are most concerned about distracted driving. Anyone who drives a vehicle will know what distracted driving looks like. People using their cell phones on the road, or texting. I have even seen someone on the 416 driving over the speed limit, with a newspaper open across the steering wheel!
It may have been assumed that young people, being more comfortable with technology than their elders, might be the ones who indulge in such dangerous practices, but the Travelers survey disputes that. According to the published survey, 42% of respondents have asked a driver to stop using their mobile device while they were a passenger in the vehicle and that millennials are more likely to voice their concerns about distracted driving as a passenger than any other age group. The survey found that 59% of millennials (ages 18–34) surveyed have asked a driver to stop using their mobile device while being a passenger in their car, compared to only 30% of respondents ages 55 and older.
“It is particularly compelling — and encouraging — to see that the demographic most comfortable with asking a driver to put down their mobile device is Canadian youth,” said Jordan Solway, Group General Counsel and Vice President of Claim at Travelers Canada. “Distracted driving is a deadly habit, and we should all be advocates when it comes to speaking up about its dangers and our safety.”
But there were certain reservations contained within the results. Although millenials were more aware of the dangers of using cell phones while driving, for example, 44% of millennial respondents admitted they had called someone they knew was driving, and 36% have texted someone they knew was driving. In addition, Canadian drivers ages 18 to 54 are more likely than those ages 55 and older to admit to texting, answering a call, or sending an email while driving, with 63 % of millennials admitting to doing so once a week or more.
Apparently, it is one thing to be concerned about something, and quite another to avoid doing that very thing.
