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Distractions Cause 4 Times as Many Teens Crashes

CBN

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A new study from AAA's Foundation for Traffic Safety shows distracted driving is the top cause of teen accidents.

Almost a million teen drivers were involved in car crashes in 2013, resulting in 383,000 injuries and 2,865 deaths.

AAA reports researchers at the University of Iowa examined DriveCam video from nearly 1,700 of those crashes.

It revealed that distracted driving led to more than four times the number of crashes than previously estimated from police accident reports.

In fact, it caused six out of every 10 car crashes for teens. The biggest culprit was other passengers distracting the driver, which caused 15 percent of the accidents.

Cell phone use came in at second place, contributing to 12 percent of crashes.

Other accident causes include:

  • Looking at something inside or outside the car
  • Singing or dancing
  • Grooming
  • Reaching for an object

"We're hoping that our central findings of the study will make parents more aware of the magnitude of the problem and the potential for disaster," Peter Kissinger, director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said.

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