Relatively few (7.6%) high school students said that they rarely or never wore a seat belt, whereas 41.4% reported having texted or emailed while driving during the 30 days prior to taking the survey. What factors might account for this significant discrepancy, especially since texting while driving is arguably much riskier than not wearing a seat belt?

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Step-by-step explanation:

The amygdala is the brain's emotional center. It is responsible for instinctual thinking and impulse control. It develops during early teenage years and this means the amygdala is not developed to the optimal level during teenage years. This makes teenagers very prone to impulsive behavior.

Also, the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for decision-making skills and the ability to measure risks is not fully developed in the teenage child stage. This is why teenagers make poor decisions and aren't great at measuring risks thereby making riskier choices like using the phone while driving.

These two brain components are fully developed in adults hence, it is less likely for adults to make poor decisions like texting while driving, which is a riskier thing to do than not using a seatbelt.

Again, teenagers have this invincibility feeling where they feel like they are more active and can react faster to road dangers. This deceives them into making such riskier decisions.

The current world also has turned into something else where people (teenagers especially) strive to get the most current news information as they are happening. The need to stay connected to social media is another reason why teenagers can't stay off their phones.

Finally, the fact that public intervention programs and ad campaigns promoting seat-belt use way more than not using cell-phones use while driving also mean more people are more conscious about using seatbelts while driving than not using their cellphones. In recent times, the campaigns, laws and bans on use of phones while driving are just gaining prominence.

In conclusion, the combination of all these factors/reasons is why the percentage of teenage high school students who use phones while driving is way more than the percentage that don't use a seatbelt although texting while driving is arguably much riskier than not wearing a seat belt.

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step-by-step explanation: