Autoblog

Study: Teens don't think texting while driving is as dangerous as DUI

Zach Bowman — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Safety

Despite plenty of academic research demonstrating that texting while driving can be just as dangerous as drinking and driving, a new poll shows that most teens simply don't think that's the case. State Farm recently sponsored a poll conducted by Harris Interactive in which 14-to-17 year-olds were asked whether they thought they would die one day if they regularly text and drive. Only 35 percent of those asked strongly agreed with that statement. Compare that figure with the 55 percent of teens who think that drinking and driving could prove deadly, and you begin to see the disparity.

Likewise, those polled believed that their chances of getting into an accident are higher while drinking and driving versus texting and driving. The auto insurance giant says that it's up to parents to underscore the dangers of both activities for their children. We couldn't agree more - especially after seeing that only a little more than half of the teens surveyed appear to adequately understand the potential consequences of drinking and driving. With public safety groups and parents having already spent decades reminding young people of the dangers of driving under the influence, it looks like it's going to take at least that long to reach them about the perils of distracted driving. Hit the jump for the press release.

[Source: State Farm | Image: Getty]

Continue reading Study: Teens don't think texting while driving is as dangerous as DUI

Study: Teens don't think texting while driving is as dangerous as DUI originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Teen car sales drop as jobs remain scarce

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:59:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying

We all remember our first car. There's nothing quite like the memory of seeing your parents hand you the keys to a vehicle you can call your own, and the experience has historically happened somewhere between a child's 16th and 18th year. Right?

Perhaps not. It seems that the time-honored act of buying your first new-to-you car in your teenage years is waning in popularity. And the same is also true of vehicles purchased from well-meaning parents for their children. According to CNW Marketing Research, in calendar year 2005, there were 7.5 million vehicles purchased by or for teens. In 2010, that number is expected to dwindle all the way down to 4.2 million.

Tellingly, this statistic is falling right alongside the flickering teen job market. CNW reports that 27 percent of all American teens have not worked full- or part-time so far this year, which is up dramatically from 2005. Not surprisingly, only 16 percent of teenagers that do happen to have their own set of wheels pay the full monthly payment themselves (that's down from 21 percent).

Transaction prices are also down, which has led to another intriguing bullet point: 57 percent of cars purchased by or for teens are from domestic automakers, due largely to the fact that American cars tend to be less expensive on the used market.

[CNW Marketing Research | Image: Getty]

Report: Teen car sales drop as jobs remain scarce originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Local Aussie authority using profanity to keep teen drivers in line

Zach Bowman — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:27:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Marketing/Advertising, Safety, Videos, Australia, Humor

VicRoads is reaching out to teens - follow the jump for the videos

Like it or not, we were all teenagers at one point or another. Which means we all did our very best to endanger the life and limb of everyone around us on the road. Mix a healthy dose of hormones with an unfiltered belief in one's own invincibility, and suddenly you've got the perfect concoction for highway hell-raising.

These days, we've even thrown in a healthy dash of technology to add a little distraction to the mix. To help teens develop good driving habits, VicRoads (Victoria's highway department) in Australia have rolled out a new ad campaign, complete with profanity-laced pleas for teens to be more attentive behind the wheel ("Don't be a d*ckhead!", etc.). Hit the jump for a look, but be warned, the language may be a little NSFW. Hat tip to Igor!

[Sources: Mumbrella, VicRoads]

Continue reading Video: Local Aussie authority using profanity to keep teen drivers in line

Video: Local Aussie authority using profanity to keep teen drivers in line originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AAA study says teen drivers kill others more than they kill themselves

Dan Roth — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:28:00 EST

Filed under: Trends, Etc., Safety

Teenage drivers are dangerous, that's no revelation. AAA has analyzed the last decade of crash data by its AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and found that while deadly crashes are down overall, teenage drivers are still at least twice as lethal to other people as they are to themselves.

While measures such as graduated licensing and improved driver training have brought down fatalities, more could still be done. Passengers in cars driven by teens continue to fare the worst, while other drivers, pedestrians and other non-motorists are also victims. The statistics certainly make parents contemplate carting around their progeny indefinitely, as AAA says that 49 states could beef up their graduated licensing programs. Add to the discussion the dismal state of driver training and the level of distraction many drivers (not just teens) inflict upon themselves while piloting 3,000-pound projectiles, and you might also start seriously considering telecommuting. Check out the official press release from AAA after the jump.

[Source: AAA | Photo by djuggler | CC2.0]

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AAA study says teen drivers kill others more than they kill themselves originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Key2SafeDriving technology enforces phone-free driving

Jonathon Ramsey — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:32:00 EST

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Australia

In the military it's called "mission creep," when the quick little job you intended to do turns into something big and ugly. In science, it's called "progress." What started out as a quick little way to keep folks from texting while driving has turned into a way to track how and where you drive so that that information can be reported to your insurance agency.

Key2SafeDriving utilizes a wireless transponder attached to your car key, which then communicates with software installed on your cell phone. When you slide the key out of the housing to start the car, the transponder enters "drive" mode and jams the cell phone that it's paired with, ensuring that the driver is unable to send texts or make phone calls. The transponder is paired with one particular phone, so no one but the driver is affected. That's the part that is supposed to make a lot of teens safer and a lot of parents happier.

But while the researchers were twiddling with the phone software, somehow they enabled it to keep track of the "vehicle's location, speed, sudden breaking [sic] and the running of lights." We have no idea how they managed to get your phone to know when you've run a red light or when you've stabbed the brakes, but that's what they're advertising. The upshot is that your driving data stored in the phone will be matched with a traffic database, and that information will be used to establish a "safety score" that will be sent to your insurance company each week. See how they did that? Teen safety turns into 1984. We think we'll just turn our phones off when we drive...

[Source: Drive.com.au]

Key2SafeDriving technology enforces phone-free driving originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Websites select top new vehicles for young drivers

Joel Arellano — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:31:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Convertible, Coupe, Sedan, Truck

Automotive websites Cars.com and DriversEd.com (a drivers education resource) have teamed up to determine the top new vehicles for teens this year. Criteria used included price, safety, size, and 'fun factor.'

The two sites top picks, broken down in categories, are:

Cars:

Honda Civic
Mazda MX-5
Mazda3
Mini Cooper
Scion tC
Subaru Impreza
Volvo s40

Pickups:

Nissan Frontier Crew Cab
Toyota Tacoma Double Cab

SUVs:

Hyundai Tucson
Subaru Forester
Toyota RAV4

[Source: PR Newswire via Seattle Post Intelligencer]

Websites select top new vehicles for young drivers originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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