MONDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) --Teen girls are twice as
likely as boys to use cellphones and other electronic devices while
driving, according to researchers who analyzed in-car video clips
of American teen drivers' behavior.
Electronic devices were the most common type of distracted
driving behavior for both genders, but there were a number of other
types of distractions, found the study released Monday by the AAA
Foundation for Traffic Safety.
The video clips were from unsupervised teen drivers in 50 North
Carolina families.
"Cellphones, texting, personal grooming, and reaching for things in the car were among the most common distracting activities found when cameras were put in new teen drivers' cars," President and CEO Peter Kissinger said in a foundation news release.
"This new study provides the best view we've had about how and when teens engage in distracted driving behaviors believed to contribute to making car crashes the leading cause of death for teenagers," he added.
The use of electronic devices was the leading cause of
distracted driving behaviors in 7 percent of all the video clips
analyzed by the researchers. Other types of distractions were noted
in 15 percent of the video clips. The most common were adjusting
controls, personal grooming and eating or drinking.
Older teens were more likely to engage in distracting behaviors
while driving, which suggests that these behaviors increase as
teens get more comfortable behind the wheel, the researchers
said.
Along with being twice as likely as male teens to use an
electronic device while driving, teen girls were nearly 10 percent
more likely to engage in other distracted behaviors. Girls were
nearly 50 percent more likely than boys to be reaching for an
object and nearly 25 percent more likely to be eating and
drinking.
Male teens were about twice as likely as female teens to turn
around in their seats while driving and were also more likely to
communicate with people outside of the car.
The study also found that loud conversation and horseplay were
far more common when teen drivers had a group of friends in the car
rather than just one friend.
The risk of teen drivers taking their eyes off the road was
three times higher when they used electronic devices and 2.5 times
higher when they engaged in other distracting behaviors.
Teen drivers using electronic devices took their eyes off the
road for an average of one second longer than those who didn't use
the devices.
"A second may not seem like much, but at 65 mph a car travels the length of a basketball court in a single second," Kissinger said. "That extra second can mean the difference between managed risk and tragedy for any driver."
More information
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has more
about
distracted driving.