Learn to Drive | NTSB Promotes Teen Safety Measures
Learning how to drive a car is learning to avoid distractions. In 2010 there were 33,000 people killed when driving a car. Distracted driving was attributed to 6,000 of those deaths. To help teens learn to drive safely the NTSB is asking lawmakers to pass legislation that restricts the use of cell phones and texting while driving a car.
Debbie Hersman, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, is urging Florida to pass legislation that restricts the use of cell phones and texting while driving for teenagers. She says too many of deaths are caused by distracted drivers – people on cell phones, texting or doing something that takes their attention away from the road. Driving and texting is dangerous for all drivers, especially teenage drivers.
“Studies have been shown that when people are texting while they’re driving, they take their eyes off the road the equivalent distance of a football field. That doesn’t make any sense I think for anybody to be able to take their eyes off the road for that period of time. When you’re driving you need to be focused on the task at hand.” says Debbie Hersman
The NTSB also wants Florida to adopt passenger restrictions for teen drivers. Teen drivers who have additional passengers in their vehicles have an increased risk of getting into a serious accident.
“We know that for each additional passenger that a teen puts in their car with them, they increase their risk of having an accident. So if you have a teen driver that has three other teens in the car with them, they are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than if they were driving in that car alone.”
