Distracted Driving: Teen Drivers Learn How Quickly Things Can Go Wrong

Distracted drivers cause more than a fifth of all fatal car crashes, according to AAA.

With all the changes in technology, there are an increasing number of distractions for drivers, especially teenagers.

According to AAA, 11 teens are killed every day due to distracted driving. While 94% of teenagers admit to knowing the dangers of using their phone behind the wheel, 35% of teenagers say they do it anyway.

Metro Driving School set up a course to demonstrate normal driving and then had student drivers attempt to text and drive.

It was an eye-opening experience for Broken Arrow sophomore Breanna Littlebear to see just how quickly things can go wrong.

"It was terrifying because I'm not used to that.  I'm used to just driving normally and not on my phone and just knowing I had no control over what just happened," said Littlebear.  "It felt really weird because you're not looking at the road and so, if you're not looking, you don't know where you are or what you're doing." 

John Martin from Metro Driving School has been teaching driver's ed for 14 years.

"You used to see 1 or 2 people.  Now you see everybody at an intersection stopped and doing something with their phone," said Martin.

While today's driving course used cones, Martin says "it could have been cars, pedestrians, somebody on a bicycle, motorcycle, parked car, telephone pole."

Martin says parents play a role in this as well - if you text and drive, your children are more likely to do it.