Top teen driving distraction is cell phone

IRVING, Texas, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Some teenagers drive with their legs and jump out of moving cars, but the top driving distraction is talking on cell phones, Texas researchers have determined.

Allstate Insurance Co.'s Roadwatch Snapshot -- a one-day, real-world look at teen driving habits -- had student volunteers from 20 schools across Texas spend a half-hour, the afternoon of Sept. 18, near the exit of their student parking lot, tallying up the number of drivers engaged in distracted behavior while leaving school.

The students tallied 1,124 distractions, which included:

-- 293 instances of talking on cell phone.

-- 247 instances of turning on radio/high radio volume.

-- 232 passengers distracting driver.

-- 147 teens text messaging.

-- 95 teens eating or drinking.

-- 91 other distractions.

-- 19 teens putting on makeup.

"Motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of teens with driver error contributing to 87 percent of all teen accidents," Rhonda Young, an Allstate agent in Abilene, said in a statement.

Parents should urge teens to never talk on a cell phone or text message while driving, don't be a multi-tasking motorist, limit the number of teens in a vehicle and have teens speak up if a driver is being impudent, Young said.