Recent research by Deloitte shows that Gen Y-ers have some very strange, and frankly disturbing, views on driving, keeping in contact with their friends via social media and being constantly “online” using in-car technology.

Deloitte’s survey results highlight a feeling prevalent amongst Gen Y respondents that is very worrying. To quote Delloite’s Joe Vitale:

“The (government) regulator view is that texting is distracting to driving. The Gen Y consumer view is that driving is a distraction to texting, and I think that really tells the story of they don’t want to sacrifice anything.”

Judging from that statement, it would seem that people in this group view their safety and that of others as less important than the ability to text/communicate with their friends while driving.

This displays a worrying disregard for safety and a lack of responsibility if it is truly reflective of the Gen Y population, but what’s probably just as disturbing is that we’re not that surprised by the statement.

The challenge lies in how to effectively address the distracted driving issue, via legislation, education or more likely a combination of both.

Vehicle manufacturers face the problem of how to give Gen Y car buyers (expected to be 40% of the U.S. market by 2012) what they want, while not making the new technology a  distraction – and that is much easier said than done. 

Gen Y is defined as roughly covering those people born between 1979 and 1995. The average age of Gen-Y survey respondents was 23.

For more information and – see Deloitte’s official release at http://www.deloitte.com/us/genyconnection