Study suggests texting while driving up

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a traffic study Thursday afternoon, suggesting that nearly one in every 100 people on U.S. roadways is texting and driving.

National Occupant Protection Use Survey, or NOPUS, worked with NHTSA by observing nearly 50,000 drivers and their habits, noting that .9 percent of those drivers appeared to be texting while driving in 2010. In 2009, that was closer to .6 percent of drivers.

"I think people are just trying to get away with whatever they can. And social media is way too widespread right now," said Austin driver Stephanie Stewart.

"I have been guilty of texting and driving at red lights. I won't even do it in traffic because I don't want someone to speed up near me and kill me," said Rachel Bennick.

Thirty-five states currently have a ban on texting while driving. The Texas Legislature tried to pass a similar bill, but it was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry several months ago. Several Texas cities including Arlington, San Antonio and Austin have their own ordinances banning texting while driving.

"I'm worried about people all around me. I'm constantly checking to see what people are doing when they're texting and driving and whether they're seeing me," Stewart said.

A similar phone interview of nearly 6,000 participants conducted by NHTSA showed that around 44% of those texting and driving are between the ages of 18 and 20; 49 percent of drivers aged 21 to 24 are guilty of the same. But, that number drastically drops in older age brackets.

"And there are so many younger people that are growing up with their phones attached to them that I'm worried it's just going to keep going up and up," Bennick said.

Even though texting while driving is up, fatalities on U.S. roadways appears to be on the decline. In 2010, fatalities in Texas dropped about 3.4 percent. However, NHTSA still says that drivers are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash if they text and drive.

"I feel that with the rise of social media and the rise of all of the things you can do with the new phones, that there's absolutely going to be more of an increase too," Stewart said.