Teenagers don't care about no phones while driving laws

It probably comes as little surprise, but teenagers, who've been specifically targeted by laws in numerous states that outlaw the under-20 set from driving while talking on a cell phone, are flat out ignoring such laws.

18 states plus the District of Columbia currently have such restrictions, while six of those (plus D.C.) have laws banning handset use by all drivers.

Such legislation is on the rise, but it's beginning to look like these laws just aren't having much of an effect. According to RCR News, while teens say they support the laws, in practice they simply ignore them when a call comes in. According to a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which looked at teen cellular use in North Carolina before and after such a law went into effect, teens were recently observed talking on cell phones while driving more often than before the ban began. Overall teen cell use in North Carolina (12 percent of all teen drivers observed) was consisent with that in nearby South Carolina (13 percent), which has no law against teens driving and dialing.

Hands-free devices don't seem to have caught on, either: Less than 1 percent of all teens were observed with them.

While it may be too early to scrap such laws, which are still relatively new, it's clear that society may need to play a tougher role in keeping kids off their phones while they're tooling around in their Scions. Parents: You know the drill. The job starts with you.

LINK: Teens ignore cellphone driving restrictions, study finds