Study: Texting while driving doubles since being outlawed

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Cars drive by a sign notifying of a new texting while driving law on Interstate 280 December 29, 2008 in San Francisco, California.

We’ve all seen it. Cars speed up, slow down or swerve into the next lane on the freeway while drivers type out messages on their phones. And a new Auto Club of Southern California study says the problem is getting worse.

The Auto Club took a random visual sample of 4,000 Orange County drivers and found that 2.7 percent of them at any given time are texting while driving.

That’s about double the number since lawmakers banned texting while driving in January 2009.

The survey found young women were the most likely to text behind the wheel. Young men tended to fiddle with their smart phones or iPods.

The Auto Club says hand-held cell phone use has remained pretty steady at slightly under four percent of drivers.

It says the survey suggests the growth of texting while driving is outpacing law enforcement efforts to stop it.

The Auto Club also says the current $20 fine for a first offense isn’t enough.