NBC – New numbers out tonight from AAA show distracted driving among teens may be much worse than previously thought.
According to the study distractions like using your cell phone while driving is just one of the many causes AAA says can be blamed for 58% crashes among teens.
Lexi Zettel is one of thousands of teens who had two cameras mounted on her car in exchange for a discount on auto insurance.
Every time she braked hard, a video was e-mailed to her mother. Then the video caught her car in an accident.
“I was looking at my iPod, so when I looked up I was on the other side of the road.”
Zettle wasn’t hurt, but it could have been much worse.
She could’ve been killed, could’ve totaled the car, and she wouldn’t have even known what hit her because it happened so fast,” said Patti Tews-Ruehle, Zettel’s Mother.
“They believe that it isn’t the cell phone which is distracting their driving; it’s the car that is keeping them distracted from communicating with their teen friends,” said Peter Kissinger with AAA.
According to U.S. Government data, cell phones only contributed to one-percent of teen accidents, but AAA found the problem was much worse. Phones were to blame for 12-percent behind only distractions from other passengers.
“One additional teen passenger in the car increases their fatal crash risk by 44 percent, said Debbie Hersman.
While seventeen states and Washington, D.C., Limit new teen drivers to only one passenger under twenty, four states have no restrictions at all. 21 States still do not ban teens from texting and holding their phone while they drive.
“I see people all the time on their phones, with ear buds in, and I think, you have no idea what could happen,” said Zettel.
Experts say your teenagers are listening, so spend time with them in the car to show them what’s safe. Oregon is one of only 29 states that ban teens from texting while driving.
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