Dick Uliano, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – What will it take to reduce distracted driving?
More and more people are talking on cellphones and texting while driving, a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study finds.
The risky behavior is much more prevalent in the U.S. than in several European countries studied, The New York Times reports.
Sixty nine percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 say they talked on the phone while driving in the past 30 days. That’s compared to just 21 percent in Britain.
The CDC analyzed data from two online surveys that asked Americans and Europeans in seven countries the same questions. The data, published in the CDC’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that 30 percent of Americans have texted at the wheel in the past 30 days.
Dr. Ileana Arias, principal deputy director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the problem is not improving.
“If anything, it seems to be getting worse,” she tells the Times.
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