- How Climate Change Could Put More MS Patients in Danger
- What You Need to Know About the New J&J COVID Vaccine
- Skipping Mammograms Raises a Woman’s Odds for Breast Cancer Death
- Could ADHD Raise Odds for More Serious Psychiatric Ills?
- AHA News: A New Heart at 18 Put Her on a New Path
- Stressed and Distracted, Kids and Their Teachers Say Virtual Learning Isn’t Working
- Fauci Says U.S. Will Stay With Two Doses of Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines
- Health Highlights, March 2, 2021
- Many Blacks, Hispanics Believe They’ll Get Worse Care If Dementia Strikes
- For Some Young Drivers, Smartphone Use Is One of Many Bad Habits
One-Third of Undergrads Admit Using Phone 'Apps' While Driving
THURSDAY, June 30Many U.S. college students use mobile phone applications (apps) while driving, a new study suggests.
Researchers surveyed 93 University of Alabama at Birmingham students who own a smartphone and use web-based applications on it at least four or more times a week. About 35 percent of them said they sometimes use the apps while driving, and 10 percent said they “often,” “almost always,” or “always” use the apps while driving.
“The participants seemed to understand that using mobile apps while driving is dangerous, and some have even experienced motor vehicle crashes while using mobile apps, but they continue to do it,” study author and psychology student Lauren McCartney said in a university news release.
McCartney is scheduled to present her findings in August at the American Psychological Association convention in Washington, D.C.
The findings concern David Schwebel, director of the UAB Youth Safety Lab.
“Driving a car is an incredibly complex task for humans to complete safely. There are enormous cognitive, perceptual and motor tasks an automobile driver must complete, frequently very quickly and with split-second precision,” he said in the news release.
“A driver using his or her smartphone is clearly distracted, both visually and cognitively, and really should not be driving. The fact that 10 percent of college students with smartphones ‘often’ are using them while driving is astounding — the fact that 35 percent ‘sometimes’ do is equally concerning,” Schwebel said.
Because the study was small and presented in a medical meeting, the findings should be regarded as preliminary until confirmed in larger studies and published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has more about distracted driving.
Source: HealthDay
