Teens and Distracted Driving: Learning to Drive in the Digital Age

Cell phone use, text messaging and their roles in distracted driving have become public safety issues in the past decade. In  2011, an average of 6.3 billion text messages were sent or received in the United States every day, according CTIA, The Wireless Association. Teenagers use text messaging as the primary method of keeping in touch with friends and family, with a third of teenagers sending more than 100 text messages a day.
 
Portable devices that allow drivers to browse the Internet, check social networking sites, and send a variety of messages to friends have the potential to distract drivers, especially teen drivers, on an entirely new level. New research and publicized crashes involving distracted teens have started debates about targeting distracted driving laws at young drivers.