Federal study: Texting by drivers up 50 percent even as states pass laws banning it

Texting while driving increased 50 percent last year despite a rush by states to ban the practice, federal safety officials said. Two out of 10 drivers say they’ve sent messages from behind the wheel — and that spikes much higher among young adults. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration takes an annual snapshot of drivers’ behavior by staking out selected stoplights and intersections to count people using cellphones and hand-held Web devices that allow them to text, view directions, check emails, surf the Internet, or play games. At any given time, just under 1 percent of drivers were texting or manipulating hand-held devices. The activity increased to 0.9 percent of drivers in 2010, up from 0.6 percent the year before.