State Farm®/Harris InteractiveSurvey

August 28, 2012

In July 2012, State Farm® worked with Harris Interactive to conduct a telephone survey of 650 teens, 14-18 years old to takethe pulse of teen drivers.

While Teens Take An Active Role Discouraging Texting and Driving, Many Still Text Themselves

  • 78% of teens admit that they have observed distracted behavior in the car while someone else was driving and that they asked the driver to stop the behavior.
  • Among them, 84% indicated that they were successful and the driver did stop.
  • The biggest reason teens expressed to explain why they didn’t ask the distracted driver to stop was because they thought the driver could handle the situation (48%).
  • 20% indicated that the distracted driver was their parent/guardian and they didn’t ask them to stop because they didn’t think they would listen.
  • Over one-third of teens (34%) admit to texting or having read a text while driving.
  • Eager teens that didn’t wait to get their license (40%) were also significantly more likely to admit to texting and driving than those teens that did wait (25%).

Teen Girls Twice As Likely To Put Off Their License For Safety Reasons

  • An overwhelming majority of teens (97%) say that they will at some point get their license, with most (54%) indicating that they got it/plan to get it within one month of being eligible to drive.
  • A little more than 2 out of 5 teens (43%) said that they waited/plan on waiting more than one month after becoming eligible to get their license.
  • Among those teens who decided to wait, most said they did/would because:
  • They had/have other ways to get around (62%),
  • Because they didn’t/won’t have a car (35%), or
  • Because they weren’t/aren’t ready or didn’t have the skills (33%).
  • Young girls (ages 14-15) were more than two times more likely to say they weren’t/aren’t ready or didn’t have the skills than young boys (ages 14-15) (54% vs. 25%, respectively).

Majority Of Teens Don’t Think They Will Get In A Car Crash During Their First Year Driving

  • Findings showed that over one-quarter (26%) of teens believed they would probably get into a crash during their first year of driving.
  • More than half of teens (56%) said that their parents provide them with suggestions on how to become a better driver, but it looks as though parents focus their suggestions on those teens that have a permit (66%) more than they do on those teens that already have their license (51%).
  • 10% of teens indicated that their parents usually criticize their driving skills, with teens who have their license (16%) being two-times more likely to say their parents are critical than teens who just have a permit (7%).

Continued….

Teens reveal what may help them to stop texting while driving

  • Teens indicated that being in a crash due to texting and driving was the most effective method in reducing texting and driving with 96% of teens indicating it would be effective.
  • The second-most effective method teens believed could reduce texting and driving is knowing someone else who was in a crash due to texting and driving, with 92% of teens believing in the effectiveness of this experience.
  • 90% of teens believed having a close-call incident while texting and driving would also be effective, with younger girls (93%) being more likely to believe so than younger boys (82%).
  • 83% of teens indicate that an effective method of reducing texting and driving would be law enforcement policing it more.
  • Surprisingly, those teens who have texted and driven (28%) were more likely to indicate that this method would not be effective than those teens who have never texted and driven (16%). Teens who already have a license (26%) were also more likely to believe that this would be an ineffective way of reducing texting and driving than teens who don’t have a license or permit
  • (13%) or teens with a permit (9%). Over one-third (35%) of teens also believe that seeing information about anti-texting is not an effective method to reduce texting and driving, with boys being more likely to express this sentiment than girls (44% vs. 32%, respectively).