Despite the general push for laws regulating the use of mobile phones during driving, especially targeting young drivers, the facts show that teens are not eager to comply with the new rules. An insurance industry study released Monday has found that teenagers used cell phones while driving at the same rate as they did before North Carolina's law, enacted in 2006, which fines motorists under age 18 who are caught talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel.

The facts are more worrying when one also remembers that vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, who are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety noticed that 11 percent of teenage drivers in North Carolina were departing high schools during the two months before the ban took effect while using cell phones. At the same time, 13 percent of high school students in South Carolina left school while talking on the phone.

Enforcement appears non-existent as just 37 citations were issued in 2007 in North Carolina to teens using cell phones while driving, while twenty eight were issued this year to date. It's hard to say what approach should be taken, but it's pretty obvious that making cell phone use during driving illegal did not help. Maybe parents can and should do more to protect their children and other motorists and pedestrians who might be harmed or killed by a distracted teen.