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Despite dangers, drivers continue to eat, text, groom while on the road, poll finds

IRVINE, Calif. — Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com, a provider of new car and used car information, today reports its kbb.com home page “quick poll” on distracted driver behaviors shows that despite continuing warnings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and U.S. Department of Transportation about the potential dangers of in-vehicle cell phone use, the average driver still seems reluctant to stop using one while on the road.

The recently completed kbb.com quick poll found that of nearly 7,700 online respondents, 22 percent admitted to having used a hand-held cell phone during the past 30 days, while 10 percent said they had used some form of hands-free/Bluetooth device.

Taking second spot on this distressing distinction list was eating while driving, which 21 percent of respondents pled guilty to, with texting while driving (13 percent), fiddling with the navigation system (12 percent), and using an iPod (7 percent) filling out the top five infractions.  Two other potential distraction creators — engaging in various forms of on-the-fly personal grooming and reading e-mail — accounted for less than 5 percent (each) of responses.  Six percent of those who answered the kbb.com poll said they had engaged in none of the above practices, while barely 1 percent claimed to have been guilty of all.

According to the latest NHTSA report, distracted driving is reaching epidemic proportions.  It found that in 2009, 5,474 individuals died and 448,000 were injured in distracted driving-related accidents on U.S. highways.  More critically, 18 percent of the fatalities and 5 percent of the injuries involved the use of a cell phone while driving.

"In today's always-connected on-the-go lifestyle, with in-car infotainment systems becoming more and more prevalent, we understand that the urge to engage in distracted driving behaviors looms large for many drivers behind the wheel," said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com.  "It is going to take a joint effort by automakers in their new-product technology development, government agencies like NHTSA, and most importantly, drivers themselves, to enforce a balance between connectivity and responsible driving to ensure safety on the roads."

Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com frequently conducts one-question home page quick polls to gather consumer insight into a variety of topics.  To view past questions and results from kbb.com home page quick polls, visit the "Driver Input" section of the Kelley Blue Book Media Center at www.kbb.com/media.

The quick poll question, "In the last 30 days, have you used or done any of the following while actively driving?" ran on the home page of Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com from Sept. 21- Oct. 5 and had 7,692 respondents.

Barb Kampbell of The Trucker staff may be contacted to comment at [email protected].  

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