The nation’s second-largest wireless company announced today that nearly 58 billion text messages were sent through its system during the first quarter of 2008.

 

The tally, from Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless, breaks new records in a rapidly growing and potentially dangerous market that some say requires more government regulation, especially in regards to driver distraction.

 

Verizon spun the news as a way to promote ways that parents can control how often their children send texts to each other. Children and teenagers are among the most frequent text-message users, statistics show.

 

Some say that recent data shows how dangerous the practice has become.

 

About 55 percent of consumers now use text messaging and 42 percent use their mobile phones to text as much or more than they do to make calls, according to the report from Common Knowledge Research Services. The report, “Consumer Text Messaging Habits,” was commissioned by the Vlingo Corporation, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based wireless data services company.

 

Vlingo’s chief executive officer, Dave Grannan, said this week that the report calls for government officials to draft public policy to ensure that texting is done safely.

 

“Text messaging has become an integral part of how younger generations communicate, and right now their behavior and attitudes suggest that 50 percent will be driving and texting,” Grannan said. “This problem is only going to get worse and we need to develop public policies and technologies to address this challenge.”

 

According to the report, 28 percent of consumers admit to driving while texting, with the worst offenders hailing from South Carolina and the least likely to text while driving from Arizona.

 

The use of cell phones for text-messaging and searching the Internet is outpacing the government’s ability to wrap its head around developing technologies and regulate the industry. A number of IT companies are developing products designed to filter out unwanted spam from the devices and to control material that may be deemed inappropriate.

 

Verizon officials say customers can use a password to select options that will block all Internet-generated messages sent to a cell phone, as well as block messages from up to 15 specific domain names or e-mail addresses.

 

Verizon officials also said today that they were concerned about cell phone use while driving, claiming they were the “only wireless company to support” a bill requiring the use of hands-free devices while driving in California.

 

That bill takes effect July 1. A handful of states have passed similar legislation.

 

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, car accidents kill teenagers more than anything else.