Drunk and Distracted Driving: How Millennials are Ranking in First Place

While the distinction for the Millennial age group varies by different web sources and surveys, the general consensus is that the starting birth years span from the early 1980s and mid-1990s to the early 2000s as ending birth years.

What does not vary is the fact that millennials are deemed to be some of the worst drivers. From technology to the general lack of focus, it is easy to be distracted at the wheel on an open road. However, distracted and drunk driving has proved to be extremely deadly. Look at the case of the Chattanooga school bus driver, who was looking at his phone and caused the deaths of six children. If that doesn’t shake you, consider the case of the man who was FaceTiming on his phone crashed and tore into a Camry at full highway speed, causing the death of a 5-year-old.

Do you know what the common factors of those situations are? The fact that both individuals were not paying attention to the road and they both are millennials. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, distracted driving occurs the most for drivers between the ages of 19 and 39. Also, 88% were involved in at least one risky behavior while behind the wheel, including texting while driving, running red lights, and speeding.

While car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, 25% of those crashes involve an underage-drinking driver. Young millennials (25-34) make up 33% of drivers involved in fatal alcohol-impaired crashes. Younger millennials (16-24) make up 40% of those drivers involved in fatal alcohol-impaired crashes.

The shocking facts don’t stop there. In the same AAA survey, drivers rated distracted driving behaviors on whether they were acceptable or unacceptable. 62.9% of teens (ages 16-18)  believed talking on a handheld cell phone was unacceptable. 61.9% of 19 to 24 year olds believed this to be unacceptable. The numbers then increased to 66.5% for the 25 to 39 year olds.

We found it great that over half of the surveyed group believed talking on handheld cell phone was unacceptable, especially because an accident is more likely if one is distracted. Conversely, we were not impressed that an even higher percentage of millennials actually did talk on their handheld device while driving. 61.5% of 16-18 year olds admitted to talking on their cell phone while driving. 73.3% of 19-24 year olds also admitted to doing so, and surprisingly enough, the 25-39 age group had the highest number–75.7%.

For the most part, millennials seem to know that distracted and drunk driving are unacceptable. They know that these risky behaviors can put themselves and others on the road in dangerous situations. However, the numbers just don’t add up in putting this knowledge to practice. With technology becoming smarter by the day, it’s easy to lose focus even for a second while driving. However, when will we stop blaming technology and start taking responsibility for our own actions?