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Everyone knows that a teenager with a new driver's license and a cell phone is a car accident waiting to happen. But is the main problem lack of driving experience or a tendency toward distractive behaviors? Are specific activities particularly problematic? To find out, U.S. researchers installed data-collection devices (i.e., cameras, accelerometers, forward radar, global positioning systems, and lane trackers) in cars belonging to 42 newly licensed teen drivers (age, 16) and 109 experienced drivers (age range, 18–72).
During 18 months of observation, 31 crashes and 136 near-crashes (for which drivers were at least partially responsible) occurred among the newly licensed drivers; during 12 months, 42 crashes and 476 near-crashes occurred am…