Abstract
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in adolescents, and drivers aged 16-19 are the most likely to die in distracted driving crashes. This paper provides an overview of the literature on adolescent cellphone use while driving, focusing on the crash risk, incidence, risk factors for engagement, and the effectiveness of current mitigation strategies. We conclude by discussing promising future approaches to prevent crashes related to cellphone use in adolescents. Handheld manipulation of the phone while driving has been shown to have a 3 to 4-fold increased risk of a near crash or crash, and eye glance duration greater than 2 seconds increases crash risk exponentially. Nearly half of U.S. high school students admit to texting while driving in the last month, but the frequency of use according to vehicle speed and high-risk situations remains unknown. Several risk factors are associated with cell phone use while driving including: parental cellphone use while driving, social norms for quick responses to text messages, and higher levels of temporal discounting. Given the limited effectiveness of current mitigation strategies such as educational campaigns and legal bans, a multi-pronged behavioral and technological approach addressing the above risk factors will be necessary to reduce this dangerous behavior in adolescents.
Highlights
IntroductionCellphone use, in particular communication by text messaging, has dramatically increased in prevalence and popularity across the world
Cellphones, and the connectivity they provide, have become a part of everyday life
Based on police crash report data collected by the U.S National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2013, 2,650 adolescents, aged 16–19, died as a result of a motor vehicle collision (MVC), making this the number one cause of death in the U.S for this age group; another 292,000 were treated for injuries (CDC, 2013)
Summary
Cellphone use, in particular communication by text messaging, has dramatically increased in prevalence and popularity across the world. The phenomenon of distracted driving from cellphone use has caught the attention of the national. The U.S federal government’s Healthy People 2020 objectives pinpoints distracted driving related to cellphone use as the top emerging cause of injury and highlights the need for future research (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2015). Given the gravity of the problem of distracted driving, and in concert with this special issue on “Adolescents in the Digital Age: Effects on Health and Development,” the objectives of this paper are to provide an overview on the incidence, crash risk, risk factors for engagement, and the effectiveness of current mitigation strategies. We conclude by proposing promising future approaches to prevent crashes due to cellphone use in adolescents
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
