Teen Driving

Do you remember how to twiddle your thumbs? Do you know anyone who still does it?

Sadly, I think this pastime has gone the way of the Macarena. (VH1’s #1 “One Hit Wonder” of All Time, by the way.)

I would guess that some teens these days don’t even know what thumb-twiddling is. Odd, isn’t it? I almost wish they did. Maybe it would improve teen driving, as an alternative, handy activity for their thumbs besides texting on their cell phones.

There has been a lot of publicity lately about teen driving and texting. Congress is working on a national ban, not just for teen driving but for everybody. With good reason. Read these teen driving statistics:

• Eighty percent of teens surveyed by AAA said teen driving and texting is a dangerous distraction.
• Half of the survey group said, even if there were a national ban, it wouldn’t stop their teen driving and texting.
• Teen driving is a risky activity. Studies show teen driving and texting causes more accidents than teen drinking.
• Teen driving and texting is twice as likely to cause an accident than teen driving and talking on a cell phone.

What has me most concerned is that teen driving and texting seems like an addictive habit. Receiving or sending text messages while teen driving is not necessary; they just do it without thinking. I’ve read reports of teens admitting to sending and receiving hundreds, if not thousands of texts daily. Do you want your teen driving with a cell phone in their hands?

So, back to the thumb twiddling: That is a habit too, but one much less likely to kill a teen driving. Think about it: Do you think you’ll ever read the newspaper headline:

• “Teen Driving While Thumb-Twiddling Dies from Carelessness”

Substitute “Teen Driving While Texting” and it’s a much more likely scenario.

There’s no denying thumb-twiddling is safer than teen driving and texting. First, you don’t really have to concentrate. Teen driving and texting requires the full use of one and sometimes two hands. With thumb-twiddling really all you need is your thumbs. You have the remainder of the hands free to – however awkwardly – grip the steering wheel.

Second, thumb-twiddling doesn’t require a lot of concentration. Most people can do it without thinking. That’s not the case with teen driving and texting.

Here are my top strategies to stop teen driving and texting:

Top 5 Ways to Avoid Teen Driving and Texting

1. Thumb twiddling
2. Nail biting
3. Finger snapping
4. Sign language
5. Wear mittens (Teen driving is possible with mittens. Teen driving while texting is not)

Of course, it’s all avoidance therapy; keeping a teen driving smarter by making them do something less distracting.

The teen driving game on this website might be more effective.

This brief game off the New York Times website simulates the teen driving/texting experience, without the danger. Plus, the teen driving gets a rating at the end to see how they faired. FYI: I failed horribly.

In the battle against teen driving and texting, we may be making some progress. An annual survey in Texas showed teen driving and texting is actually down slightly in that state. Almost 20,000 teen drivers living in urban areas were asked if they combine teen driving and texting. 47 percent “Yes” last year. 42 percent “Yes” this year.

Teen Driving and Texting: Baby Steps

Set an example. Be a parent.

• Do you drive and text or talk on the phone at the same time?
• Did you see the graphic British-made public service announcement about teen driving and texting on YouTube? Would you make your kids watch it?
• What ground rules have you set down about your teen driving with their phone? Is it effective?
• Would you have the courage to take your teen driver’s phone away?

Share your teen driving story, and maybe save a life.

And while you’re at it, let me know if you can text with mittens on.

About Teen Driving, Texting Video

A short, but violent, video about the dangers of teen driving and texting has become a top viral video, and has kept both the media and social network sites chattering, since it was first posted on YouTube in early September.
The film, which includes a graphic, but realistic auto crash reenactment, was contracted by a British police department and was originally 30 minutes long. It was produced last year. The movie was shown to high school students as a public service announcement. And, according to its producer, it was meant to shock and elicit a reaction.

As it stands now on the Internet, the teen driving video is edited to four minutes long. But some would say it’s long enough to make a teen driver or a worried parent ill.

A girl, driving two friends, is texting and sways off the road, eventually involving three autos in the chain reaction accident. There is bloodshed, the sounds of crushing bones, and suffice it to say an unhappy ending for the teen. Within minutes, the mood of the teen driving goes from giggles to stunned silence as she is airlifted from the scene.

Peter Watkins-Hughes, the writer and director of the video, is not backing down from the controversy. Young people, he said, because of television and video games, are desensitized in many cases to the sight of blood and death. It will take a hard hit, in a place where they are vulnerable, to make teen driving and texting an important topic of daily discussion.

Watkins-Hughes seems to be getting his intended reaction. A sampling of on-line comments:

·         Some viewers are commenting that the clip is so graphic it’s laughable.  Then again, a lot of teen driving videos are violent, and teens don’t want to let on that an adult has hurt or deceived them.

• Some bloggers are convinced that the whole thing is real and the individuals really died. It looks real enough, except for the multiple camera angles, expert sound quality and slow motion segments.
• Many are complaining that the teen driving and texting habit is foolish. Some teen drivers are promising never to text while teen driving again and appealing to others to make the same pledge.

Car crashes are the number one cause of death in youth. Any accident that you see, there’s close to a two-thirds chance there was a teen driving.  Controlled road tests of teen driving and texting showed that, the average text, takes 4.7 seconds. When the teen driving is taking his eyes off the road for 4.7 seconds at 55 mph, that’s the length of a football field.

Of course, not all texting accidents are the result of teen driving. Adults do it too.

There is a massive campaign growing on the federal level, to outlaw driving and texting. It’s a matter that the individual states must decide. Several states have already passed laws to the effect. It probably won’t be long before driving-and-texting laws will be in effect across the nation.

Perhaps then the teen driving statistics will begin to change.