Safety experts say that using a cell phone while driving is a major distraction and is a factor in crashes. More young drivers are using cell phones, according to a February 2005 study from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The study reported that eight percent of drivers, age 16 to 24, used a hand-held phone during daylight hours in 2004, compared with five percent in 2002 and three percent in 2000.

In December 2005, the NHTSA and the National Center for Statistics and Analysis released the results of their National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), which found that in 2005 six percent of drivers used handheld cell phones, up from five percent in 2004. The survey also found the jump was significant among young drivers ages 16 to 24, up to 10 percent in 2005 from eight percent in 2004.

NOPUS is a probability-based observational survey. Data on driver cell-phone use were collected at random stop signs or stoplights only while vehicles were stopped and only during daylight hours.

To date, fifteen states (Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia) and Washington, D.C. have enacted laws that prohibit young drivers from using cell phones when driving.

In addition, California (effective July 1, 2008), Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Washington, D.C. and certain localities in Illinois, Massachussetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania ban all drivers from using hand-held cell phones. In addition to the states that ban driving while using a cell phone, one state - Washington - has enacted a law that prohibits text messaging while driving (DWT). The law goes into effect January 2008 and applies to all drivers.

Poor Parental Examples
An Allstate Foundation-sponsored poll, based on nearly 1,000 parents of 15-17 year-olds, found parents may not be setting a good example for young drivers. The poll, published in March 2007, found more than half the parents surveyed hadn't heard of, or were only vaguely aware of, graduating licensing laws. The study found that although most parents believe it is important to set a good example for young people, 71 percent say they have talked on a cell phone while driving with teens in their vehicle.

More than one-fourth admitted to running red lights or stop signs or breaking another traffic law with teens in the car. (Allstate says that in a poll of teenagers conducted in 2005, almost nine in 10 said their parents exercised the strongest influence on their driving behavior). Other findings included 90 percent of parents allow their children to drive between the hours of 9 pm and 6 am, when the odds of having a crash double, and 69 percent of parents permit their teens to drive in bad weather.

Risky Distractions and Driving Behavior
A survey by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance involving 5,700 ninth to 11th graders at 68 schools in the United States highlights the risks high school-age drivers face. Almost all respondents - 93 percent - said they saw teens driving other teens and 94 percent said the passengers distracted the driver in some way.

Common distractions were using cell phones, listening to loud music and heightened emotions. Half of the respondents have seen teen drivers exhibit road rage. Half also reported seeing teens drive drunk. Three-quarters have witnessed teens driving while fatigued. One in five said they were involved in a crash as a passenger. The research report, Driving: Through the Eyes of Teens, was published in January 2007.

Information provided by Insurance Information Institute (III).