Young people may represent our future. However, these young adults ages 19 to 24 continue to put their own futures at risk. Their lifelong culture of technology has fatal consequences as cutting-edge distractions are leading to car accidents.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) reports that young adults engage in far more risky behavior while behind the wheel than any other age group. Specifically, 88 percent of 2,511 drivers 16 and older admitted that they sped, ran a red light or used a cell phone while driving in the past 30 days.
The AAA’s findings coincide with a report by the National Safety Council that revealed more alarming statistics. The NSC study showed that motor vehicle deaths in 2016 increased by six percent from the previous year. More troubling is U.S. traffic deaths in 2015 already having the largest single-year increase in more than 50 years.
The report also shows that drivers ages 19 to 24 were 1.6 times more likely to read a text or email while driving. They are twice as likely to send those communications while operating a car. Add to that distracted millennials being 1.4 times likelier to drive 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on residential streets and running a red light.
Technology and driving are at a dangerous intersection.
The AAA supports seatbelt and cell phone usage violations being moved from secondary traffic violations to primary offenses. That would allow police officers to pull them over for those violations alone without having to witness something else.