Mobile phones kill more teens than alcohol, according to one new study. The Cohen Children’s Medical Center found that more than 3,000 teens die each year from texting while driving, compared to just 2,700 who perish annually for driving under the influence of alcohol. Texting behind the wheel is now the leading cause of teen death in the United States.

“The reality is kids aren’t drinking seven days per week — they are carrying their phones and texting seven days per week, so you intuitively know this a more common occurrence,” Andrew Adesman, Chief Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Cohen Children’s Medical Center told CBS.

According to Adesman, the lead researcher in the study, laws banning texting while driving are ineffective. Although it’s illegal to text while driving in 45 states, 57 percent of boys surveyed said they text while driving even in states where the act is illegal. By comparison, 59 percent say they text while driving in states without such laws.

Likewise, teenagers who text while driving have been shown more likely to participate in other risky driving behaviors, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The research found 45 percent of all students aged 16 and older reported having texted or emailed while driving during the 30 days prior to the survey. Those students who texted while driving were also five times more likely to driving under the influence of alcohol and 40 percent more likely to inconsistently wear their seatbelts.

“But the big picture is that the greatest single risk to teenagers in this country is getting hurt or killed in a motor vehicle crash; that’s the most likely thing to result in their death,” CDC director Thomas Frieden said. “And texting while driving makes teen driving even more dangerous.“

Frieden believes the ability to text while driving may explain the slowing or even reversal of declines in teen fatalities seen until the last year. Another study found teens who text while driving are also more likely to binge drink, use tobacco or pot, have unsafe sex and use indoor tanning beds.

But Frieden says some of the unsettling trend may be attributed toward parents’ own poor driving habits.

“Parents have to lead by example,” he told USA Today. “If you drive fast, if you drink and drive, if you text and drive, then your kids learn that that’s acceptable behavior, and it is not.

“Multitasking may be fine if you’re sitting at your desk, but not when you’re driving a car,” Frieden added. “Things can go so badly so quickly. That’s what I think teens don’t recognize. Deep down, most teens think they are invincible, but you can go from a perfectly normal situation to heading into a truck or off a bridge or into a tree within a second or two, far less than the time it takes to reach down and type ‘LOL’ on a text message.”