Real Video Shows Distracted Teen Drivers Moments Before Things Go Wrong

We've all been there: motoring along, our minds somewhere else, when suddenly our attention snaps back to the road, and we realize that we're barreling toward the back end of a car. It happens most frequently with inexperienced drivers -- especially teenagers, who have the highest crash rate of any demographic in America. And when it comes to teens, more often than not, the culprit isn't boredom or fatigue, but distraction. To prove it, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted what it bills as "the most comprehensive research ever conducted into crash videos of teen drivers".
In analyzing those videos, researchers discovered that distraction played a role in 58 percent of all crashes involving teen drivers. That's interesting because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had previously believed that distraction was only a factor in 14 percent of teen crashes.