Texting behind wheel No. 1 killer of teens

Texting while driving has surpassed drunken driving as the top cause of teenage deaths on U.S. roads, according to a new study.

Posted 10:46 p.m. May 13, 2013 — Updated 4:51 p.m. May 14, 2013

RALEIGH, N.C. — Texting while driving has surpassed drunken driving as the top cause of teenage deaths on U.S. roads, according to a new study.

The study by Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York found that more than 3,000 teens die each year as a result of crashes caused by sending text messages while behind the wheel, and another 300,000 are injured in such wrecks.

About 2,700 teens are killed as a result of drunken driving crashes.

Previous studies have shown that people sending text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to crash.

Texting while driving is illegal in North Carolina, but the Cohen Children's Medical Center study found that such restrictions are routinely flouted. Half of the students surveyed for the study admitted they text while driving, including 57 percent of the boys who live in states with no-texting laws.

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