Does Bluetooth car technology enable teen texters?

Between scanning for that favorite radio station, chowing breakfast down before the school bell rings or turning the rearview mirror into a mobile vanity station, driving often takes a backseat to life's everyday necessities.

All too often, however, the biggest distraction is sitting quietly in a pocket or a purse, just waiting to beep, buzz or blink.

Yet as bans on texting and driving proliferate nationwide, car manufacturers continue to offer Bluetooth systems aimed at making the practice more manageable while on the move.

"Texting while driving presents enormous dangers," said Beth Mosher, director of public affairs for AAA Chicago, "because it takes your hands off the wheel, your eyes off the road and your mind off of driving."

Young drivers may be most at risk.

According to recent Pew Research Institute reports, U.S. cellphone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 send an average 110 text messages every day, more than double the next highest range. And 34 percent of teenagers ages 16 to 17 who own a cellphone have used it to text while driving a car.

Odds are, if teenagers and young adults are sending and receiving more than 3,000 texts every month, at least some of those exchanges are happening while driving.

Of the most common types of driving distractions — physical, visual and cognitive — texting behind the wheel is particularly dangerous because it represents all three.

"The ability for the human brain to multitask is kind of a myth," said David Teater, senior director with the National Safety Council. "Are you able to watch your favorite television show while you talk to someone on the phone and fully comprehend both? The answer is no."

And while dozing off on the couch is no big deal, losing focus for even a couple of seconds while driving can prove costly.

A 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that engaging with a text message takes the average driver just less than 5 seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, this translates to driving the length of a football field completely blind.

The simple solution, of course, is to not text and drive.

But lots of new cars' hands-free Bluetooth systems are making fighting that urge all the more difficult.

"They make laws for no texting and driving," said Dean Kazamia, an 18-year-old college student who was eyeing a Bluetooth-equipped Hyundai Genesis Coupe with some friends at the Chicago Auto Show. "But regardless, everyone is going to do it."

The trend isn't rampant just among teens. Commercial drivers and business people also partake in droves.

But less experience on the road can amplify the effect for young drivers.

The effectiveness of hands-free calling and texting while driving is hotly contested. While proponents argue that it's no different from chatting with a passenger, critics contend that the practice is rarely as hands-off and nondistracting as car companies would lead you to believe.

"We don't believe hands-free technology helps alleviate the problem of distracted driving," Mosher said. "And it in fact may give people a false sense of safety."

It also breeds confidence, perhaps most among young drivers who think hands-free connectivity implies risk-free calling and texting.

"It's a good way of not getting caught by the cops," Kazamia said.

Since the inception of distracted driving laws two years ago, Illinois State Police have issued more than 19,540 citations and written warnings to distracted drivers.

And of those, 1,500 have gone to texting-while-driving offenders, a practice that is illegal in Illinois — as it is in 34 other states — for drivers of any age even if the car comes equipped with hands-free capabilities.

As prevalent as hands-free phone connectivity is becoming in today's market, not all car companies are embracing the trend.

Audi, a longtime leader in technological driving innovations doesn't offer texting capabilities in its otherwise robust Bluetooth packages.

John Link is an area sales manager with Audi. He's also the father to an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old.

Driving back from the Auto Show, he shared his thoughts from behind the wheel — using his A5 Coupe's hands-free system. In fact, he didn't look at or touch his Blackberry once, he said.

"From a technology standpoint, can we do it? Absolutely?" Link said. "But you'd really have to adopt an attitude that texting while driving is OK. And we're still of the mind that texting while driving in any form or fashion is not smart."

When it comes to texting behind the wheel, the problem isn't entirely with the car companies that make it easier — though many argue that all automakers should go the way of Audi and discourage the practice entirely.

It's really with the driver who chooses to abuse it.

"The conversation is the distraction," Mosher said, "not the device."