Texting, driving a teen epidemic

Last week's front page Daily Herald story, “Texting teen drives car into garage,” again focuses on the dangers inherent in distracted teen driving. It serves as a wake-up call to all of us. Luckily no one was injured in this instance.

The dangerous teen driving problem is multifactorial. Recent studies have demonstrated that distracted driving (texting, cell conversations) is as dangerous as driving intoxicated. A study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that people who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash (or what they call a near-crash event) than nondistracted drivers.

We as parents must address these issues by setting clear guidelines for our teens no drinking, drugs, texting or cell phones while driving. We all must “refrain from taking that call” and checking that e-mail or text while driving.

Motor vehicle accidents are the No. 1 cause of death in adolescents in the United States. Our society cannot continue to accept that 6,000 of our teens die driving each year with tens of thousands more being severely injured. We must adopt a no-tolerance attitude regarding this issue of impaired and distracted driving; we must view and confront the issue as a national epidemic.

Dr. Charles Nozicka

Medical director

Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Advocate Condell Medical Center

Libertyville