According to Angel Reyes, III, of RB&R:
Texting while driving now kills more teenagers than driving while intoxicated. Over 3,000 teens died in 2013 while they tried to send a text message when they were behind the wheel of a car. Approximately 2,700 teenagers died as the result of driving while intoxicated.
The Centers for Disease Control recently conducted a study, in which almost half of teenagers admitted to texting while driving.
Teens who admitted to sending and receiving text messages while behind the wheel also reported engaging in other risky behaviors as well. This includes driving under the influence of alcohol. Teenagers who texted while driving were five times more likely than others to drive after drinking. Young people engaging in the risky behavior were also found to be more likely to not wear seat belts.
In 2011, at least 23 percent of automobile accidents involved cell phones, totaling 1.3 million auto accidents over the course of a single year.
Teenagers are often more…
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attached to smartphones than older adults, and process risk differently.
Text messaging while driving makes an accident 23 times more likely, according textinganddrivingsafety.com, a private group dedicated to ending texting and driving.
According to the group, teen drivers are out of their lane for ten percent of the time they are sending or receiving text messages. One in five admits to the risky behavior.
Study of the effects of texting on teen driving deaths was published in the journal Pediatrics.