The girl was walking across the street on Tuesday when she dropped her iPod. She went back to grab it in moving traffic and was, unsurprisingly, hit by the approaching pickup truck. She suffered a broken leg, but hey, her iPod is OK! Totally worth it. [WESH via The Daily What]

That's not the truck in the accident, in case you were wondering.

The vandalism was carried out at Diablo Audi of Concord, California on Friday night by a group of teenagers who were later apprehended by a security guard at a neighboring BMW dealer. Every panel of each damaged vehicle was keyed; necessitating total resprays on many of the vehicles. Total damage is estimated at anywhere between $500,000 and $1,000,000.

"I first noticed (a scratch) on one of our high-performance vehicles," said sales manager Chris Schniegenberg. "Then I turned around and saw it on another. I got sick to my stomach. I called the police and somebody else shouted, 'Hey, there's another one.'"

Damaged cars included RS4s, S8s, TTs, A4s, A6s, A8s, and Q7s as well as used Mercurys.

Information on the teenage perpetrators has not yet been released; Diablo Audi’s insurance will be covering the damage.

[Contra Costa Times via AudiWorld]

Teenagers didn't change their mobile phone usage habits, period. In a related survey, parents offered overwhelming support for the law, but conceded that enforcement was lacking. Even the vice-president of IIHS opined that these kinds of bans are difficult to enforce because it's hard to determine the age of users, and because hands-free devices like Bluetooth headsets are often hard to see.

One possible solution is to take the "DUI approach." Cops often set up roadside checkpoints in the vicinity of drinking establishments, so why not set up checkpoints outside of high schools, movie theaters and the mall? [Gadget Remote]

• Cell phone use among teens while driving is 76%
• 57% admit to texting "sometimes" or to often reading or sending text messages while driving
• 93% of teens play loud music when they drive
• 48% admit they're easily distracted when friends are passengers
• 91% think they're good drivers
• 34% say they're friends are good drivers
• 97% have witnessed other teens take risks while driving

Honestly, we're not all that surprised. We were teens once and the way we drove then is best forgotten now, or wishfully disremembered. "Riding unbuckled with new teen drivers on high-speed roads"—that's when the recently published study on the teen body count says junior is at greatest risk. Pretty much a triple-whammy formula for vehicular mayhem and shredded sheet-metal right there. Not to mention needless loss.

The study's core finding is no shocker: that crashes are the leading cause of death for 8-17 year-olds. What else is gonna kill 'em?

To be perfectly honest, it makes us fear for the lives of our hardworking Geneva Motor Show "booth professionals," should they ever decide to free themselves from a life of leaning on shimmering steel and stitched leather and hit the au pair circuit in the U.S. of A.

The Tracer uses GPS to know the current speed limit on any given road and if the driver exceeds the speed limit Tracer will text message a designated person, essentially tattling on the driver. One obvious flaw with the system is power. It is powered by the standard 12V DC outlet. I assume it could include some kind of safety mechanism that will report when the Tracer is unplugged, but DC power is too easy to get around, especially with the Tracer, which could provide enough time for the little hoon to do something really stupid. It's still a conceptual design, but the Tracer HUD is a great idea to put a stop to teenage hoons. [AMG]

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill that would ban teenagers from using cell phones while driving. The bill still has to be passed by the upper house and signed by the governor, but let's be honest that we all know that's going to happen. It's an easy way to look good and, even better, most teenagers can't or won't vote! One delegate pointed out that in the seven seconds it takes to send a text message in a car going 60 mph you drive two football fields or over one hundred hobos. – Matt Hardigree

Virginia House Passes Teen Driver Cell Phone Ban [WTKR-TV]

Related:
Governator To Sign Automotive Celly Ban [Internal]

Very few of our friends bought their own first cars. Our ElCo of legend was purchased by our parents as a first car for us when we were still in junior high, offered up for sale by our uncle's dad for a grand. But the Wall Street Journal tells a different story; of kids receiving rather-nice vehicles from their parents and using them as seeds to find jobs and buy newer cars with. Which, we admit we also participated in by using the cheap-as-free Legend hand-me-down to commute to our first postcollegiate design job in Sf and then trade in the moment before it absolutely died on us for our Durango. Which of course, we will trade in on a Pantera the moment before the tranny goes and we get that damned book deal. Right. Uh-huh. Meanwhile, Kristine Gregorian, the now-ballerina featured in the article, should totally go on a date with us.

Landing a Set of Wheels
On Your Parents' Tab [Wall Street Journal]

Related:
Urge Underkill?: Nissan Releases Photo of Three-seat Concept [Internal]

Teenage Drag Racer Living Life on Fast Track [Hood County News]

Related:
Ron Capps to Run Vintage Funny Car [Internal]