Survey: Teens Distracted While Driving

With the approach of the Fourth of July holiday, a recent study has revealed sobering facts about teens driving while distracted, especially during summer, when they tend to drive more.

A survey of 2,300 teenagers from around the country reveals a trend of inattention while driving, particularly because of distractions while behind the wheel.

The survey, prepared jointly by the Liberty Mutual Insurance company and Students Against Destructive Decisions, indicates that summer months are the worst because more teens drive during their vacation months.

“We report the findings as information families will find useful to help them establish safe and responsible driving rules as teens gain experience through their young driving years,” Liberty spokesman Glenn Greenberg told Patch in an email.

According to figures from the study, 826 teenagers – or 68 percent of those surveyed -- were involved in near-miss incidents in 2010-2011, and all of them said they were distracted behavior while driving.

A whopping 86 percent said they had been talking when the near-miss occurred; 61 percent said they were changing songs on portable devices with screens while driving; 47 percent said they had three or more passengers in the vehicle when they drove; 46 percent said they were speeding when they nearly crashed and 36 percent said they were talking on cell phones while driving.

Text messaging, the bane of many a parent worried about their children driving, took a 36 percent share of those driving teens who nearly crashed, according to the survey.

The survey also indicated that 60 percent of young women involved in near-miss crashes said they changed their driving behavior, compared with 52 percent for young men.

Of the 253 teens who said they were in a crash, 79 percent of young women said their behavior changed, compared with 58 percent for males.

According to Liberty Mutual and SADD, teens are behind the wheel 44 percent more hours each week in the summer, for an average of 23.6 hours.

This is compared with 16.4 hours per week during the school year, the studies reveal.

Also, according to past studies conducted jointly by the two groups, only 7 percent of teens consider summer driving to be highly dangerous, yet teenagers more often say they have driven under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the summer months.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Harris said that part of the problem is that teenagers have much more distractions today than their parents had.

When he grew up and got his first car – a Pacer – “you still had to utilize the pay phones,” Harris said.

Harris said that companies are working to build vehicles that monitor and regulate equipment use, such as seat belts; Monitors that parents can regulate for their young drivers.

Even though Harris said the responsibility of teaching their children proper driving habits rests primarily with parents, “History has proven that teenagers think that they are invincible and they’ve got things all figured out.”

In 2009, the CHP issued 138,000 citations for distracted driving, which now includes texting and even changing songs on a portable device with a screen on it.

It is against the law to have a screen open at eye level while driving, Harris said, adding that the CHP runs a program to teach teenagers proper and legal driving habits, calledimpactteendrivers.org.