National Teen Driver Safety Week is October 17th to 23rd, 2010

Car accidents are the leading cause of death among teens — 16-to-19-year-olds are four times more likely to be in a fatal car crash than 25-to-69-year-olds — so it makes sense to devote a week to a national discussion about safe driving. That's this week (Oct. 17-23): National Teen Driver Safety Week. And if overall distracted driving rates are any indication, adults could use a refresher course anyway.

This year's Teen Driver Safety Week theme is distracted driving — taking your eyes off the road, hands off the wheel or mind off the task at hand for any reason — an increasingly recognized threat to highway safety. Research shows that inexperienced drivers under age 20 are the most likely to have fatal distraction-related accidents.

A University of Utah study found that using a cell phone behind the wheel — regardless of whether or not it is hands-free — increases a driver's reaction time equal to someone with a 0.08 percent blood alcohol concentration, the legal threshold for intoxication.

Teen passengers also increase the risk of distracted driving: one teen in the passenger seat of a young driver's car doubles the risk of fatal crash, while three or more teen passengers quadruples the risk.

By Meredith Melnick | Time Magazine