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Teen Drivers' Texting Rates Still High, Despite State Laws In Place

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While state laws banning texting while driving have significantly reduced the number of teens using their smart phones behind the wheel, nearly one-third still engage in this dangerous behavior.

This is the finding of new research to be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego today.

Texting while driving has been found to increase the risk of having a crash by up to 20-fold—which makes it more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Teenagers are already at increased risk for having a motor vehicle accident while behind the wheel--mainly due to inexperience—but, texting while driving significantly elevates that risk.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts a nationally representative survey every two years to evaluate risky behaviors among high school students. Referred to as the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, the survey asked teens in 2011 for about texting while driving in the past 30 days.

To examine whether state laws banning texting while driving were effective in changing teens’ behavior, researchers evaluated data from the 2011 and 2013 surveys. Researchers also examined whether there was any connection between driver age and experience on texting while driving.

Between 2011 and 2013, 14 states passed laws banning texting while driving. Responses were obtained from 1,566 teens in 2011 and 1,353 teens in 2013. The results demonstrated that the texting rate dropped significantly from 43% of teens in 2011--when no bans were in effect--to 30% of teens in 2013 when texting while driving was illegal.

“Despite public health campaigns and laws banning texting while driving in most states, texting while driving was four times more common among U.S. high school students than driving while under the influence of alcohol (41.4% vs. 10%),” said principal investigator Alexis Tchaconas, Research Assistant, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York. “ Although laws that ban texting while driving appear to be somewhat effective in reducing this dangerous behavior by teen drivers, much more needs to be done to effectively eliminate this major distraction.”

A sub-analysis showed that texting while driving was nearly five times higher among experienced drivers (defined as more than one year older than the age of initial driver license eligibility in their state) than new drivers. An additional finding was that the risky behavior was also more prevalent among 16-year-olds than 15-year-olds.

“Tragically, smartphones still allow teens to do stupid things while driving a car,” said senior investigator Andrew Adesman, MD, FAAP, chief, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Cohen Children’s Medical Center. “It is unfortunate that the smart engineers that make these phones don’t restrict or disable texting features when the phone is traveling more than 5 mph. As a parent and as a pediatrician, I would love to see some parental controls built into smartphones so that teenagers cannot be distracted while driving.”

Tchaconas urges parents and teachers to see texting while driving as a serious public health risk for all teens, and a wake-up call to all parents as well.

“Distracted driving is a leading cause of vehicle-related deaths among teenage drivers. Texting while driving is a concerning public safety issue that needs to be addressed," said Tchaconas. “Although it is illegal in 48 states, large numbers of teens still choose to text while driving. “

Education is the key to bringing greater awareness and social responsibility to teens regarding the dangers of this risky behavior.

“Federal and state governments should work with mobile device companies to better educate teens about the dangers of texting while driving,” urged Tchaconas. “In our technology-dominated world, advanced safety features to prevent texting while driving should be relatively easy to develop and implement,” echoing Adesman’s theme.

Realities about behaviors are more important than a sheer statistic, explained Adesman.

“Although fewer teens are texting while driving in states with recently implemented laws banning this risky behavior, the reality is that it is still an epidemic,” stated Adesman.

“Far too many teens are still texting while driving, and previous studies have shown that this is one of the most dangerous forms of driver distraction. High school students are, by definition, young and inexperienced drivers.  Adding another major risk factor like texting on a cell phone is nothing less than a recipe for disaster,” reasoned Adesman.

Looking out for the other driver, a theme echoed by Tchaconas, is also reinforced by Adesman. “When teens choose to text while driving, they are dramatically escalating their risk for injuring themselves or someone else.”

The solution to this epidemic may ultimately be rooted in our grasp of technology, according to Adesman.

“Given all of the sophisticated technology that goes into smart phones, it should be easy for cell phone manufacturers to create software safeguards in their phones that prevent texting while driving,” explained Adesman.

“Since high school students are at the mercy of their parents when it comes to cell phone access and use, a simple solution would be a password-protected phone feature or software application that parents could activate which would disable all texting while the phone is in motion.”

Parental control and monitoring may truly be the “password” to help save our teens who feel the urge to text while driving.

The reality is that “it can wait.”