Teens and texting

Celeste Bailey, 16, of Maplewood, got her driver's license three weeks ago. Now her parents, Patrick and Laura, are asking her to sign a contract promising to practice safe driving -- including not using the cell phone or texting.

"Celeste is a big texter, but she does seem to understand there's no way she should text while she's driving," Laura Bailey said. Nevertheless, her parents think the contract will help reinforce their expectations.

Sending a quick text while on the road (illegal in Minnesota for drivers of all ages) compromises both time and distance in revealing ways. When traveling 55 miles per hour, a driver covers 90 feet per second. The average time to compose and send a text message is 5 seconds, meaning the driver has been distracted while traveling more than the length of a football field. Statistics show that texting drivers are 43 times more likely to be involved in a crash, compared with cell phone users, who are four times more likely.

According to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, half of those surveyed said they think the punishment for texting while driving should be just as severe as the punishment for drinking and driving.

But it can be tough to make an impression on teenagers. Students in classes at Safeway Driving Schools are often surprised when the instructor stands in front of the room, baseball in hand, asking for volunteers to put their heads down and start texting on their cell phones.

"We say the ball could be thrown at any time. Naturally, there are no takers," said Jim Thienes, part owner of the six metro area schools.

Instructors would never actually throw the baseball, Thienes said, but the point is made: Teens texting behind the wheel are so distracted that they wouldn't realize when they are about to hit someone or be hit.

"The same skills they need to drive -- physical, visual and cognitive -- are all being pulled away from the road when they are texting on their cell phones," said Thienes, also president of the Minnesota Driving School Association.

Amy Roggenbuck, community health liaison for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, under the Office of Traffic Safety, said that despite risks they know are involved in texting behind the wheel, teens freely admit the higher priority for them is to stay connected to their friends.

"In focus groups, teens told us since they aren't allowed to use cell phones in school and because their lives are so scheduled, the only time they have to respond to texts or phone calls is after school when they are driving," said Roggenbuck. "Many of them said they consider the act of driving itself to be a waste of time, a way to get from point A to point B, so they decide to multi-task."

Parents who battle teen texting at the dinner table are in for a more crucial challenge when it comes to making sure their teen drivers are not texting and driving.

"Parents should set expectations and consequences as soon as their teen gets a driver's license," said Ann Kulenkamp from the Minnesota Safety Council. The first step is for parents to lead by example and keep their own cell phones out of sight when driving. "Parents really need to be consistent and model the behaviors they want teens to emulate," she said.

The challenge for those in the traffic safety community is how to increase teen awareness about the dangers of texting and driving. When Roggenbuck asked teen focus groups about the best way for them to receive traffic safety messages, the answer was telling.

"They admit that billboards, TV and radio ads don't really work," she said. "They told us, 'Send us a text.'"

Julie Pfitzinger is a West St. Paul freelance writer.