Poll: 48% of European Drivers Check Text Messages While Driving

Nearly half of drivers surveyed in six European countries admit they have checked text messages on their mobile phones while driving even though 95% say doing so is dangerous.

The ratio of text-readers ranges from 61% in Italy to 33% in the U.K., according to a poll conducted for Ford Motor Co. by the U.K.'s TNS Research International. The survey of 5,500 drivers also questioned motorists in France, Germany, Russia and Spain.

About half of the respondents estimate that reading texts slows their response to traffic situations by 50%.

In December, a survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 20% of U.S. drivers admit to texting while driving. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has declared distracted driving its top safety priority, but the issue has received less attention in Europe. Automotive News Europe notes that many countries in the region ban driver use of mobile phones in moving vehicles, but there are no European Union-wide rules.

Ford says it commissioned the study to gauge the market ahead of introducing its voice-activated Sync telematics system in Europe. The technology, which can read text message aloud, debuts this summer in the B-Max MPV and will be offered later this year in the Kuga crossover (called the Ford Escape in North America) and the Focus sedan.

Ford predicts that 3.5 million of the vehicles it sells in Europe will be equipped with Sync by 2015. About 4 million of the company's U.S. models already have the system.