Auto accidents are the No. 1 killer of American teenagers, a new study finds — killing almost as many drivers as passengers, and killing more kids than homicide or suicide.
The new report, called “Teens in Cars,” was paid for by the General Motors Foundation and based on a national survey of 1,000 teens between 13 and 19.
The study said 2,439 teenagers died in auto accidents on U.S. roads in 2012. A little more than half of the teenagers killed, 56 percent, were driving at the time; 44 percent of the victims were passengers. More than half of those killed, the study said, were not wearing seat belts.
Though the study did not cite texting or telephoning as responsible for traffic accidents, it did say that about 40 percent of teenagers polled said they had been in cars driven by teens who were texting or talking on the phone behind the wheel.