Yup, teen drivers are getting yet another con thrown against their driving abilities. This time Ford is the big meanie behind it. Looks like Ford did a study of both teens and adults driving in a simulator (wonder if the teens got a Focus and the adults the Mustang.) They both did fairly well until a cell phone conversation was added to the mix. The adults slipped a little more then a bakers dozen but, man, did the teens just fall apart! Yikes, I’m sure glad I don’t have to deal with this stuff anymore.

Autoblog clouds every teens dream of having a car and cell phone by writing:

Using a driving simulator, Ford compared the response of adult and teenage drivers to traffic events happening in front of them. As the chart shows, both types of drivers missed about 3 percent of potentially dangerous events without the distraction of a phone, but when placing a phone call the rate jumps to 13.6 percent for adults and almost 54 percent for teens. And this is using a hands-free headset!

Read and weep further in Autoblog’s Teen drivers and cell phones don’t mix post.

Tags: cell, teen, driving, distraction