A third of smartphone owners say they use them while driving

Eyes on the road, driver.

(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)

Do you still use your smartphone behind the wheel? At least a third of people polled do.

Among two thousand drivers surveyed by McKinsey & Company, 35 percent revealed that they do use their smartphones while driving. And it's likely more people do but just didn't admit it.

Out of the drivers who fessed up, 89 percent said they use their phone for calls, 68 percent for navigation, 39 percent for instant messaging, and 31 percent to check e-mail or the Internet.

McKinsey's "Mobility of the Future" report also found that younger people tend to feel a greater need to stay connected in the car. A full 5

5 percent of those 18 - 39 years old see in-car access to data as important, compared with just 27 percent of people in the 40 - 69 age bracket.

The younger crowd also expects their travel time to rise significantly over the next ten years, spending more time on the road to travel to work, school, and even to meet up with friends.

We all know the dangers of using a phone behind the wheel. Even a quick glance at an incoming call or new e-mail can be enough to take our eyes off the road at the wrong time. And as cars get outfitted with ever more complicated on-board navigation systems, the risk becomes that much greater.

Conducted in June 2012, the full report reached 4,000 people and used answers from 3,673 of them. The question about smartphones and driving received responses from 1,949 individuals

(Via AllThingsD)

by Lance Whitney via CNET