‘Glee' spotlights campaign against distracted driving among young motorists

The high-profile campaign against distracted driving, especially among young motorists, has seeped deeply into the national culture: April is Distracted Driving Month, and tonight’s season premiere of the Fox teen hit TV show “Glee” features a distracted driving crash cliffhanger from last season.

Despite all that focus, a new survey from insurer State Farm indicates that many teens might still be ignoring the message.

The survey, conducted for State Farm by Harris Interactive, finds that just 43 percent of drivers ages 16 and 17 say they’ve never texted while driving – the same percentage as in the insurer’s first survey in 2010. Yet 76 percent of teens age 14-17 agree that “if you regularly text and drive, someday you will be killed while driving,” and 93 percent agree that “if you regularly text and drive, someday you will get into an accident.”

The State Farm survey comes as “Glee” is expected to resolve a cliffhanger from last season. Drama queen Quinn Fabray, played by Dianna Agron, was rushing to her ex-boyfriend’s wedding and texting while driving when her vehicle was sideswiped by a truck. The screen went black, leaving viewers wondering about her fate.

Gannett News Service