Here at LotPro.com, we see that the Memorial Day holiday is nearly upon us and with it come all the best images of this time of year: baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and vacation trips. But before heading out on life’s highway this weekend, you should take the time to ponder the latest findings from Vlingo and GMAC Insurance.

Why drive when you can text?

Earlier this week, Vlingo Corporation, a Cambridge, Massachusetts company that develops speech-recognition technology for mobile phones (“why tap when you can talk”), released its second annual Mobile Messaging Habits Report, and the results are just plain scary.

Commissioned by Vlingo and conducted by Toluna, the survey found that nearly 60% of mobile phone owners use their phone to text with teens and “twenty-somethings” (age groups that, not coincidentally, also account for a high percentage of car accidents) having the highest percentages at 94% and 87% respectively, an increase of 9% and 2% over 2008.

Usage also jumped in older age groups with those in their 40’s increasing from 56% of owners to 64% and those in their 50’s increasing from 38% to 46%. So how do these numbers relate to messaging while actually “mobile”?

It appears that even though 7 states and the District of Columbia currently ban Driving While Texting (DWT), which seems like a ridiculously low number, in any case, 26% of mobile phone users continue to text behind the wheel.

If you live in Tennessee, you’d better keep a weather eye out, because 42% of respondents from that state admit to DWT (the highest), while drivers in Arizona seem to catch a break with only 18.8% of drivers in that state simultaneously texting and driving (the lowest).

As a whole, 25% of respondents admitted to DWT, although age also seems to be a contributing factor: 13% of drivers in their 50’s do it, 49% of those in their 20’s do it, while 60% of those in the 16 to 19 age group do it on a regular basis. Had enough yet?

But wait, there’s more…

In addition to performing functions other than paying attention to the road, it appears that no fewer than 41 million Americans may be “unfit for roads”, at least according to the fifth annual GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test.

Results released yesterday from the 2009 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test found that 20.1 percent of licensed drivers in America would not be able to pass a written drivers text exam if they took it today. This means that one out of every five drivers hitting the highway this weekend has forgotten at least some of the basic rules of the road.

State and regional idiocy

The report also breaks down those states and regions in which you are most likely to encounter these regulatory-challenged individuals. Wisconsin and Idaho residents catch a break, as those states are home to the most knowledgeable drivers with average scores of 80.6%. And anyone who has ever driven in New York should not be surprised that drivers in that state scored the lowest (for the third time in five years, mind you) with an average of 70.5%.

Regionally, drivers in the Midwest score highest, while drivers in the Northeast (certainly aided by the stellar results from New York) averaged the lowest scores.

More report results:

•    With Age Comes Wisdom: The older the driver, the higher the test score. Drivers 35+ years old were most likely to pass. The age group with the highest failure rates was young adults (18 to 24 years old). White males older than 45 received the highest average score.

•    Idaho and Wisconsin replaced Kansas’s 2008 ranking as most knowledgeable; New York replaced New Jersey’s 2008 ranking as least knowledgeable.

One more thing: for those of you who have to know, men still score higher on the test than women (81% versus 79% in 2009), although that gap has narrowed considerably (in 2008 it was 87% versus 80%).

The Bottom Line

If you have been thinking to yourself lately that more and more fools seem to be populating the roads of America, you now have the empirical data to prove it. So be careful out there this weekend.

Be sure to wear your seat belt

Here at LotPro.com, we were reminded of the safety issue when we received a press release from General Motors that stated, “GM commends the work of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) and law enforcement agencies throughout the state as they embark on another campaign to increase safety belt use and save lives. As stated by the OHSP, even though Michigan has one of the highest belt use rates in the nation, there were more than 250 unbuckled fatalities last year. And, as OHSP Director Prince states, the goal of this statewide effort is not to write tickets, but to get more motorists to use the life-saving equipment that is readily available to them.”

It always seems to happen this time of year

It could be a graduation party or part of a holiday weekend, but pretty much every year, this time of year, a story appears in the newspapers of a tragic accident involving either families or kids of high school age. Only a year ago, a boy who went to school with my oldest daughter and graduated from high school with her passed away when the car he was driving crossed the center line and hit a large truck head-on. While alcohol was not involved (he fell asleep at the wheel), he wasn’t wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision and the injuries that he sustained could certainly have been reduced had he been wearing one.

The grim statistics

According to the Michigan State Police, even though the rate of safety belt use in our state is 94%, that represents observable day-time belt use. At night, less than half the fatalities were wearing safety belts and in nearly every case of a belted fatality, the crash was so severe that safety belts and other features were not able to prevent the death. There is one other statistic: nearly ¾ of the fatalities were male.

What to expect this weekend

Here in Michigan, the Memorial Day Weekend will kick off a 2-week statewide safety belt mobilization effort. Federal traffic safety funds will allow nearly 300 local police departments, sheriff’s offices and the Michigan State Police to put additional patrols on the road. A portion of the enforcement will take place during evening and late night hours to encourage drivers to buckle up on a 24/7 basis.

Have a great holiday weekend and keep it safe

While these extra patrols are certain to aggravate many drivers, remember that it’s only for your own good. Any effort that contributes to lower traffic fatalities is a step in the right direction. Keep this in mind as you get together with friends and family this weekend. And from those of us at LotPro.com, have a safe Memorial Day!