Teen drivers ignore cell phone bans, study says

6/9/2008

WASHINGTON - From Jeannie Harrison's perspective, the social lives of most teenagers tend to revolve around their cell phones - even when they are behind the wheel.

"People don't want to be inaccessible for even 15 minutes driving up the street," said Ms. Harrison, 19, a sophomore at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. "They're so used to being accessible all the time."

Targeting inexperienced motorists, several states have passed laws during the past five years restricting cell phone use by teenage drivers.

But an insurance industry study being released today that looked at whether teens are ignoring such restrictions contends enforcement and parental influence are just as important as new laws.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety studied North Carolina's law, enacted in 2006, which fines motorists under age 18 who are caught using a cell phone.

Researchers who watched as high school students left school found that teenage drivers used their cell phones at about the same rate both before and after the law took effect. In South Carolina, which does not have a similar restriction, cell phone use by teenage drivers was about the same for both periods studied.

A separate phone survey of North Carolina parents and teenagers showed widespread support for their state's law, but more than three in five reported that enforcement was rare or nonexistent.

"Cell phone bans for teen drivers are difficult to enforce," said Anne McCartt, the institute's senior vice president for research and an author of the study. "Drivers with phones to their ears aren't hard to spot, but it's nearly impossible for police officers to see hands-free devices or correctly guess how old drivers are."

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, according to the government's auto safety agency, and teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.

The institute says 17 states and the District of Columbia have cell phone restrictions in licensing requirements for teen drivers. The National Transportation Safety Board in 2003 recommended that states limit or bar young drivers from using cell phones, leading many states to act.

Ms. Harrison, who serves with Students Against Destructive Decisions, an advocacy group focused on highway safety issues, said few of her friends know about West Virginia's law banning cell phone use by novice drivers.

Bill Bronrott, a Maryland state delegate who sponsored a successful bill in 2005 prohibiting rookie drivers under 18 from using cell phones, except to make 911 emergency calls, said a "combination of education and enforcement" was critical. So, too, was parental involvement.

In the North Carolina study, researchers found that 11 percent of teenage drivers observed departing 25 high schools during the two months before the ban took effect were using cell phones. About five months after the ban took effect, during the spring of 2007, nearly 12 percent were observed using phones.

In South Carolina, observers found that 13 percent of high school students departing 18 high schools used cell phones while driving. The rates were consistent during the same two time periods studied in North Carolina.

In the North Carolina phone survey, 95 percent of parents and 74 percent of teenagers supported the restriction. But 71 percent of teens and 60 percent of parents felt that enforcement was rare or nonexistent.

In North Carolina, 37 citations were issued in 2007 by the state highway patrol to teens using a cell phone while operating a vehicle. Twenty-eight citations have been issued in 2008.