CDC: 40% of Teens Admit to Texting While Driving

We know teenagers can sometimes be up to no good, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can tell us exactly what they're up to. Although smoking rates are down for the adolescents, many reported texting while driving.

On Thursday, the CDC published a press release, "Cigarette Smoking Among U.S. High School Students at Lowest Level in 22 Years," and it also documented other behaviors of teenagers, including physical fights, sexual activity, texting while driving, computer use, healthy habits, and others.

The rate of teenagers texting or e-mailing while driving was extremely high, with 41% reporting doing so in the past 30 days. Rates also varied from state to state: percentages ranged from 32% to 61% across 37 states and from 19% to 43% across 15 large urban school districts. This was the first survey collecting information from states and large urban school districts on the subject of texting/e-mailing while driving.

The National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) collected the data and the results from 2013. The survey began in 1991 and aims to monitor "behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and STDs, alcohol and other drug use, tobacco use, unhealthy dietary behavior, and inadequate physical activity," according to the survey's webpage.

However, CDC Director Tom Frieden is pleased to see that cigarette smoking among the teenagers is the lowest in 22 years, dropping to 15.7%, which allowed the United States to meet its national Healthy People 2020 objective (reducing adolescent cigarette use below 16%). Despite this good news, the texting while driving statistics are still of grave concern.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, 18% of all fatal crashes in 2010 were due to "driver distraction" (particularly cell phone use), resulting in 3,092 deaths and 416,000 injuries. Additionally, 40% of all U.S. teenagers reported being in a car when the driver was using his/her cell phone in a manner that put the passengers in some sort of danger. Because of these alarming numbers, the FCC is working with industry and safety organizations as well as government agencies to promote public education on the subject and reduce its likelihood.

You can read more about the CDC press release here.