Worrisome Study Reveals Distracted Driving Is a Major Problem for Teen Motorists
If you have teenagers who drive, you'll want to watch this.
AAA looked at videos of nearly 1,700 car accidents involving teen drivers from 2007-2013 and found that 58% of moderate to severe crashes involved those motorists who were not paying attention prior to impact.
As the above video shows, the distractions are wide-ranging: cell phones, food, makeup and music are a few of them, with drivers talking or using the phone in 12% of all crashes tracked.
The distracted driving figure of 58% is startling. It had previously been estimated that distracted driving was a factor in 14% of cases in which there a teen involved in the crash.
Jackie Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said the study highlights what many pundits have always thought. "The findings of the AAA Report confirm what safety groups have suspected for a long time - distraction is more severe and more common in teen driver crashes than previously found in government data," Gillan said.
According to AAA, police received reports of 963,000 accidents involving drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 in 2013, causing 383,000 injuries and nearly 2,900 deaths.