Calls From Parents, Spouses Among Biggest Driving Distractions

CARS.COM — You've likely heard the phrase, "You always hurt the one uou love." According to a new study by the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, that notion unfortunately can be applied to the potentially deadly practice of distracted driving.

Related: Study: Distraction Persists Long After Voice Text Sent

The study, conducted by center researchers Yi-Ching Lee and Noelle LaVoie, surveyed more than 400 teen drivers age 15 to 18 and more than 80 adult drivers age 40 to 60 from 31 states to determine who they text and talk to on their mobile phones while behind the wheel. Turns out, the people teens most frequently communicate with while driving are their parents, and for adults it's their spouses.

"Why are drivers talking with the people closest to them when they are driving?" Lee asked in a web posting. "It may be because they think they need to respond due to the importance of the social relationship or it could be due to the function of the call, such as schedule coordination."

Whatever the reason, distracted driving remains a major safety issue. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for people age 5 to 34 - accounting for more than 3,000 deaths a year and hundreds of thousands of injuries - and distracted driving has been shown to increase risk significantly, researchers noted. Despite the well-documented dangers, 90 percent of drivers reported using a mobile phone while behind the wheel.

To combat these staggering figures, the researchers said parents must be the first line of defense against distracted-driving danger by setting a good example. That means not using their phones while driving, even when traffic is stopped, and instituting a zero-tolerance policy for their teen driver's phone use. Parents should also make it a practice when calling their teens to ask whether they're driving at the time and instruct them to call back when they've arrived at their destination or have pulled over, the researchers said.

"We hope that by making parents aware of their surprising role in perpetuating a preventable risk factor in teen crashes, they will refrain from calling their teens when they know they are behind the wheel," Lee said in the post. "This has the potential to reduce the amount of distracted driving substantially."