Distracted driving mustn't be tolerated

The recent Daily Herald story "Survey targets teens who don't pay attention" again addresses both the prevalence and dangers inherent in distracted teen driving.

As an emergency physician and the father of four, the issue of distracted driving has been a key issue in both my professional and parenting practice. I have seen numerous preventable teenage driving tragedies in the emergency room.

The dangerous teen driving problem is multi-factorial involving drug and alcohol impairment, aggressive driving and distracted driving. Driving in today's world is a much more aggressive endeavor with faster driving, more traffic and lack of common courtesy. High-risk behaviors glamorized in media and video games that "teach" risk taking undoubtedly lead our teens to increasingly aggressive driving. Glamorization and acceptance of aggressive, distracted and impaired driving by society must not be tolerated.

Life does not supply our teen drivers a "reset" button. 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's called a near-crash event) than non-distracted 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 on impaired and distracted driving.

Dr. Charles Nozicka Medical director, pediatric emergency medicine

Advocate Condell Medical Center

Libertyville