Monday, March 30, 2015

Study: Talking, Texting, Singing Behind Many Teen Crashes

A new study--driven by data collected by San Diego's Lytx--finds that talking, texting, and singing and moving to music are among the most common fof distraction leading up to crashed by teen drivers. The study, released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, used videos of teen drivers provided by Lytx, to identify the distraction that led to crashes by teen drivers. The study found that Interacting with one or more passengers led with 15 percent of crashes; cell phone use was linked to 12 percent of crashes; and surprisingly, down the list somewhat, was singing and moving to music, which was linked to 8 percent of crashes. The study--rather than relying on surveys or self reporting, used actual videos of crashes recorded by Lytx, which develops video-based driver monitoring systems. The company supplied nearly 1,700 videos of actual teen crashes for the study. The AAA said, due to the study, it is recommending that prohibit cell phone use by teen drivers and restrict passengers to one non-family member for the first six months of driving.

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