Teens conduct distracted driving survey in Santa Cruz County

A Roadwatch survey was conducted on five intersections by Santa Cruz County Friday Night Live Partnership and California Friday Night Live.

The surveys were done in Santa Cruz, Aptos, Live Oak and Watsonville.

The surveys are part of the Txtwiser Campaign, which helps the Friday Night Live youth educate the public on the dangers of texting and driving.

Drivers took the pledge by signing their name and inking their thumbprint onto the Txtwiser banner to promise to not use their phone while driving. Youth also collected the pledges from passengers to speak up when a driver picks up their phone and stop distracted driving.

In 2013 more than 3,000 people were killed in distracted driving related crashes and more than 400,000 people were injured in the U.S.

“I was shocked after doing the Roadwatch. Almost half of the drivers we saw were distracted. I knew it was a problem, but I didn’t know it was this big of a problem,” said Brian Marques, 13 years old, Shoreline Friday Night Live Member.

An intersection near Watsonville High School showed that out of 575 drivers, 165 of them were driving while distracted.

The pick-up area of the Downtown Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club had 34 out of 171 drivers distracted. The biggest number was at Shoreline Middle School with 143 distracted drivers out of 348 cars. That’s 41% of drivers who were distracted, most of them by holding a cell phone.

More than 600 people in Santa Cruz County have taken the pledge this year.