"Driving: Through the Eyes of Teens" is a survey of 6,000 US high school students.  The study was conducted by State Farm Insurance Companies and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, teens are risky drivers.  They are often distracted by cell phones and rowdy passengers and impaired by emotions and fatigue. 

This particular survey was the first to poll teenagers about their driving habits.

"Teens describe a driving environment that would be challenging to even the most experienced drivers," Flaura Winston, a doctor from the hospital and principal investigator of the report, said at a news conference.

Nearly half of teen driver participants admitted they talked on a cell phone while driving, and 53% reported seeing substance use, including alcohol and marijuana by passengers of teen drivers, the survey report said.

75% of the teens polled said they witnessed teens driving tired at least some of the time, and 55% said they had seen a teen driver exhibit "road rage."

Only 65% said they consistently wore seatbelts both as a driver and a passenger, and half of teen driver respondents reported driving over the speed limit sometimes. One in five ninth through 11th graders (13 to 16 years of age) had been involved in at least one crash as a passenger in the past year, and 8% of teens in the survey had been the driver in at least one crash where someone needed medical attention, it said.

It is important to know that car crashes are the leading cause of death for American teenagers. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2005, more than 7000 people aged 15 to 20 were involved in fatal crashes.

Almost all of the students polled said they had seen peers fail to pay attention to the road because of the teenage passengers in the car with them. 

The National Transportation Safety Board has found a teenage driver's crash risk increases with each additional teen passenger in the vehicle.

According to the study, nearly three-fourths of high school students ages 13 to 16 were learning to drive or already driving on the roads today.

These facts are important to know whether you are merely a driver out on the roads or you have teenage children of your own.  Keep your teens safe by reinforcing the traffic laws and displaying good driving habits as a driving role model for your children.