Safe driving requires constant, focused attention. So developing a mindset of heightened awareness and focus is key to crash proofing your teen. And the easiest way to do that is eliminate and reduce as many distractions as you can. The single, deadliest distraction is cell phone, and all the others aren't even close. Texting while driving increases your crash risk 43x. Just talking on a cell phone quadruples your crash risk. And it doesn't matter whether it's hands free or not. Just the act of talking on a cell phone impairs brain function very similarly to having a .08 blood alcohol level - legally drunk. So the solution to this is simple, although it doesn't mean it's easy. It's fine for teens to have a cell phone in their car, but under no circumstances should you allow a teen to use that cell phone in any way, shape or form, period. Passengers are the next deadliest risk. Recent studies have shown that 2 or more passengers can, up to quadruple the crash risk of your teens. And remember the same goes for when your teen is a passenger with other teen drivers. So be aware about passengers as well. Don't worry about you being in the car as a passenger as well because, surprisingly, recent studies have shown that if you have a passenger in the front seat, especially if it's not a teen, that actually slightly reduces your crash risk, because you've got another set of eyes on the road. Now there are other distractions that you should try to eliminate or reduce, especially in the beginning parts of driver training - food, drink, navigation systems, radio - they all contribute to distractions. But collectively, they don't have near the impact of passengers, and most especially cell phones.