October 30, 2017 | By Greene Broillet & Wheeler
There are plenty of statistics that paint a very scary picture of teenage drivers and how distracted driving affects them. First of all, take this broader statistic: car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers. Then consider this statistic: about 10 percent of drivers age 15-19 that got into fatal car accidents were distracted at the time of the wreck.
It is for these reasons, among many others, that the California Highway Patrol is teaming up with Impact Teen Drivers (ITD) to launch a new campaign to reach out to teenage drivers and try to convince them to keep their cell phones in their pockets when they are behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.
While this is a commendable cause, there are two things to note here. Teenagers are notoriously fickle when driving. It is simply inherent to their nature. They are more rebellious, have less life experience, and are more prone to driving mistakes simply because they haven’t had enough time to learn the rules of the road.
The other factor here is that, because of the above paragraph, teens are simply more likely — and will always be more likely — to use their cell phones while driving. Cell phones are now a central part of social lives when kids are growing up, so it only follows that they would use them more — and in scenarios that are obviously more risky and dangerous.