Teens Driven to Distraction
Passengers and cell phones play a bigger role than thought when 
it comes to car crashes involving teen drivers (ages 16-19) according to a new safety study. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had previously estimated that distractions of all kinds were a factor in only 14 percent of all teen driver crashes. The new study revealed that driver distraction was a factor in 58 percent of crashes; especially accidents in which vehicles ran off the road (89%) or had rear-end collisions (76%).
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety analyzed nearly 1,700 videos that capture the actions of teen drivers in the moments before a crash. It found that distractions were a factor in nearly 6 of 10 moderate to severe crashes. That’s four times the rate in many previous official estimates that were based on police reports.
The study is unusual because researchers rarely have access to crash videos that clearly show what drivers were doing in the seconds before impact as well as what was happening on the road. AAA was able to examine more than 6,842 videos from cameras mounted in vehicles, showing both the driver and the simultaneous view out the windshield.
The most common forms of distraction leading to a teen driver crash include:
- 15% – Interacting with one or more passengers
- 12% – Using a cell phone
- 10% – Looking for something in the vehicle
- 9% – Looking at something outside the vehicle
- 8% – Singing/dancing to music
- 6% – Grooming
- 6% – Reaching for an object
Even with this data Florida is still one of 21 states that does not have a teen ban on texting or holding a phone while driving. Florida is also one of 4 states that does not limit the number of passengers that a teen may have in the car with them while driving. The majority of states only allow one passenger under the age of 20.
AAA noted that in 2013 about 963,000 drivers ages 16 to 19 were involved in police-reported crashes in the United States and that these crashes resulted in 383,000 injuries and 2,865 deaths.
Parents are a powerful influence on their children and the type of driver they will become. We encourage you to talk to your teen about driving dangers, setting rules and understanding consequences. We have also provided parents with a helpful distracted driving video in our safety video library and an informative distracted driving brochure (https://murrayguari.com/images/MG-DistractedDriving-Trifold.pdf) on our website.
