Distracted driving behaviors high among college students: study

San Diego – Seventy-eight percent of college students reported that they drive while talking or texting on a cell phone, and about 50 percent said they text while driving on a freeway, according to a study conducted by the University of California, San Diego’s Trauma Epidemiology and Injury Prevention Research Center.

Researchers analyzed 4,964 surveys from drivers with an average age of 21. They found:

• 47 percent of participants used hands-free devices at least half the time while driving.
• 25 percent used hands-free devices with high frequency while driving.
• 60 percent said they send texts while in stop-and-go traffic.
• 87 percent admitted to sending texts while stopped at traffic lights.