Concentration on the road is important for a driver of any age, because driver distraction can lead anyone to cause a car accident. However, for inexperienced drivers, paying attention to their surroundings is even more vital. We are not talking about paying attention to things inside of the car, not the radio, their cellphone or other passengers in the vehicle.

It is no surprise that passengers in a vehicle can cause a teen driver to become distracted. When they make noise, a driver may turn around to see what the fuss is all about. Teen passengers can distract a driver in many ways, but some studies have gone further to show that it is not just the passengers' own actions that can distract the driver. A teen driver's behaviors are often influenced simply by the presence of another in the vehicle with them.

"These studies help us understand the factors that may predispose teens to drive with multiple friends and how those passengers may contribute to crashes by distracting the driver and promoting risky driving behaviors such as speeding, tailgating or weaving," said the author of one of the studies and the director of epidemiology at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

In our second post of this two part series, we will look more closely at just what the conclusions of the two studies are and how the information can be used to help reduce the number of accidents caused by teen drivers on an almost daily basis.

Source: USA Today, "Teen driver's friends can be dangerous distractions, studies find," Robert Preidt, Jan. 30, 2012