Today's Teens: Breakin' The Law, Breakin' The Law

Kids these days, I tell ya. Turns out most teenagers could care less about the law when it comes to driving and cell phone use. In fact, a recent study shows that in North Carolina, teen use of cell phones while driving has increased since laws preventing it were enacted. How is it they are failing to get the message?Use of cell phones while driving has become illegal in many states during the course of the last year. Many states also have made sending text messages while driving illegal -- both for teens and adults. This study, performed in North Carolina, doesn't sample the largest data set possible, but it says that 11% of teens were observed talking on the phone while driving away from school at the end of the day before laws preventing teen use of cell phones were put in place. After the laws went into effect, that number rose to 12%. A small increase, but still an increase.

Anne McCartt, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety senior VP for research and an author of the study, said in a prepared statement, "Most young drivers comply with graduated licensing restrictions such as limits on nighttime driving and passengers, even when enforcement is low. The hope in North Carolina was that the same would hold true for cell phone use, but this wasn't the case. Teen drivers' cell phone use actually increased a little. Parents play a big role in compliance with graduated licensing rules. Limiting phone use may be tougher for them since many want their teens to carry phones."

The funny thing is, both teens and parents support the ban, believing the practice to be unsafe. Theory and reality, however, are failing to merge. One problem cited by the study is enforcement. "Cell phone bans for teen drivers are difficult to enforce," McCartt notes. "Drivers with phones to their ears aren't hard to spot, but it's nearly impossible for police officers to see hands-free devices or correctly guess how old drivers are."

I see people -- including those I believe to be teenagers -- on the phone while in the car all the time. While it is pretty much a given that cell phone use while driving is dangerous, if the laws aren't or can't be enforced, what's the point of having them?

LG has actually decided to do something about it. The state of California will be going hands-free beginning on July 1. Thursday, June 19, at the Petersen Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036, LG will be giving away 1,000 Bluetooth headsets in order to foster safer driving and cell phone use. The event will be held between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.