ChiTown Traffic Tattler

A telephone survey of 800 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 found a quarter of them have sent text messages while behind the wheel. Boys and girls were just as likely to be the offenders the study found, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

CNet reported that Pew found one high school boy who thinks texting while driving is completely harmless:

“I wear sunglasses so the cops don’t see (my eyes looking down).”

Image courtesy of Pew Research Center

Perhaps the teenager could use a private party of 4 minute, 15 second Public Service Announcement has grabbed more than 5 million views since it hit the web.

And let’s not forget, just two years ago when texting was a darling in the media spotlight, CBS News ran a segment on this teenager who claims to average 5,000 text messages a month … while driving.

In August, Illinois became the 17th state to ban texting while driving, but while the bill outlaws writing, sending or receiving text messages while driving, it says nothing about texting while pulled over to the shoulder or in park or neutral at a traffic light.

The issues was enough of a public safety issue that the U.S. Department of Transportation at the end of September hosted a “Distracted Driving Summit.”

In the lead up to the summit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said, “it were up to me. I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren’t always enough.”

“We’ve learned from past safety awareness campaigns that it takes a coordinated strategy combining education and enforcement to get results. That’s why this meeting with experienced officials, experts and law enforcement will be such a crucial first step in our efforts to put an end to distracted driving.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 33 states in 2008 considered 113 bills relating to driver distraction, including cell phones and other portable device use that potentially distract drivers.

Cell phone use, including text messaging, by new drivers was one of the most popular issues debated in state legislatures.

Plenty of resources from that discussion, including video of the panel discussions, are available here.

Thanks to Al Tompkins at the Poynter Institue, we found a Car and Driver magazine study looking at how texting slows down driver response time.

The results:

Unimpaired: .54 seconds to brake.

Legally drunk: add 4 feet.

Reading e-mail: add 36 feet.

Sending a text: add 70 feet.

Meanwhile, CNBC’s Phil LeBeau has more on the Car and Driver study.