The number of 16- and 17-year-old drivers who died in traffic accidents rose significantly in the first half of 2012, creeping back toward what traffic safety experts called "unacceptable" levels, according to research published Tuesday.

The report — a preliminary compilation of data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia by the Governors Highway Safety Association — found that 240 16- and 17-year-olds died behind the wheel from January through June 2012. That's a 19 percent increase over the same period in 2011 and a startling 26 percent more than in the first half of 2010.

It also outpaces the rise in overall traffic deaths last year, which increased by 5 percent, the National Safety Council reported last week.

The report identified no single overarching reason teen mortality jumped. Instead, it theorizes that two-decade-old state regulations on the youngest drivers haven't kept up with the teen driving population, which has been given more reasons to drive by the improving economy. And like numerous other traffic safety groups, the governors association warned of the distractions posed by cellphones and other electronics.

"We know from research and experience that teen drivers are not only a danger to themselves, but also a danger to others on the roadways," said Kendall Poole, chairman of the governors' safety organization and director of the Tennessee Governor's Highway Safety Office.

The rise in deaths last year is "unacceptable," he said.

Separate data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, peg traffic accidents as the single biggest killer of U.S. teens, accounting for more than third of all deaths among Americans 15 to 20 years old.

Read the full report, including state-by-state data (.pdf)

Until 2011, the number of deaths among beginning drivers had been falling since 2002, when it hit a modern annual record of 544. That was roughly a decade after states began adopting so-called graduated driver licensing laws, which impose restrictions on the youngest drivers in stages as they approach age 18. 

All 50 states now have such laws, and increases in deaths over the last two years could simply reflect officials' and parents' letting their guard down as the laws have become a part of everyday life, said Allan Williams, former chief scientist for the National Highway Traffic Safety Institute, who conducted the study.

The improving economy may also be an incentive for more teenagers to drive, statistically increasing their risk, Williams said.

Whatever the reason, "based on 2011 final data and the early look at 2012, it appears that we are headed the wrong direction," he said.

The report called on states to renew their focus on graduated driving laws and to establish programs to help parents keep their children safe.

"Parents have a huge responsibility to ensure safe teen driving behavior," said Barbara Harsha, executive director the governors group. "States can facilitate this by providing innovative programs that bring parents and teens together around this issue."

The NHTSA has proposed new federal grants to help states fine-tune and enforce their graduated driver laws. To qualify for the money, states would have to require new drivers to go through a learner's permit stage and an intermediate permit stage before they could get full licenses.

Public comment on the proposals closes April 23.

The proposals closely mirror a three-part program to restrict beginning drivers recommended by the governors safety group. That template calls for:

• A learner's permit beginning no earlier than age 16, lasting at least six months and requiring 30 to 50 hours of parent-certified supervision.
• An intermediate stage lasting at least until age 18, including a ban on driving after 9 or 10 p.m., with a limit of one teen passenger.
• A ban on all cellphones and other electronic devices.

"Our main goal is to save lives," said Jeff Bledsoe, sheriff of Dickson County, Tenn., whose state has already put most of those ideas in place.

Dickson especially stressed the ban on electronics behind the wheel, telling NBC station WSMV of Nashville: "With all of the technology we have these days — with cell phones and other items in the vehicle that could take our focus off the roadway — we have to be cautious and know what a huge responsibility it is when we operate a vehicle."

Related

National Safety Council: Traffic deaths surged in 2012

Red state, blue state divide reflected in fatal traffic accidents

Authorities could go even further in West Virginia, where a measure was introduced in the state House last week to require beginning drivers to pass drug tests — three of them, once before they could get a learner's permit, again before they could step up to an intermediate license and one last time before they could get a full license.

"Obviously, any time you can take an opportunity to try and eliminate drugs — and especially in driving — that's obviously a good thing," said Bernie Buttrey, a driver's education instructor in Parkersburg, W.Va.

Buttrey told NBC station WTAP of Parkersburg that he was hesitant because of the constitutional implications, but he said such tests may be reasonable to ensure that beginning teenage drivers remain safe.

"We've passed laws that some people think maybe are excessive in the use of your cellphones, but I think evidence proves that the less you use your cellphone, the less you're distracted," he said. "So this is just maybe another step in the right direction."

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A conservative legal defense group is suing to try to block a new law in California that will ban therapies that aim to “cure” gay teens.

The Pacific Justice Institute filed the lawsuit on Monday in federal court in Sacramento on behalf of a marriage and family therapist, a psychiatrist and a man studying to become a mental health professional. It names as defendants Gov. Gerry Brown and a host of other state officials.

Brown on Sunday signed SB 1172, a bill sponsored by state Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, that would prohibit therapists from administering “sexual orientation change therapy” to gay and lesbian children under 18.  California became the first state in the nation to crack down on “gay cures” for minors.

Brown and Lieu said such “gay conversion” therapies are not based on science and in some cases have driven teens to commit suicide.

The law is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

“Of all the freedom-killing bills we have seen in our Legislature the last several years, this is among the worst,” Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, said in a statement. “This outrageous bill makes no exceptions for young victims of sexual abuse who are plagued with unwanted same-sex attraction, nor does it respect the consciences of mental health professionals who work in a church. We are filing suit to defend families, children and religious freedom. This unprecedented bill is outrageously unconstitutional.”

The lawsuit states:

“The statute materially interferes with the plaintiff mental health professionals’ exercise of their independent professional judgment in providing treatment to minors who have unwanted same sex behaviors or attractions. As such, the statute requires the plaintiff mental health professionals to discriminate against minors who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning youth. This is in violation of these plaintiff mental health professionals’ obligations under the rules of professional ethics to provide treatment to persons regardless of their sexual orientation.”

Lieu, a  former prosecutor, called the lawsuit "frivolous."

"Under the plaintiffs' argument, the First Amendment would shield therapists and psychiatrists from medical malpractice and psychological abuse claims simply because they use speech in practicing their medicine. That is a novel and frivolous view of the First Amendment.”

Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, also said the lawsuit is meritless. “This lawsuit is a desperate, last-ditch effort to defend the indefensible,’’ Kendell told The Los Angeles Times.

The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, or NARTH, a group of therapists who believe sexual orientation can be changed, has also said it plans to file a lawsuit to block implementation of the law.

Previous story:
California becomes first state in nation to ban 'gay cure' therapy for children

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Teens at one Wisconsin high school made a big splash at their prom -- a wooden pier collapsed during  a photo shoot, sending them into a lake.

"It's completely unexpected. It doesn't even happen on TV, and all of a sudden here it is happening to us," Matt Timm, a student from Kettle Moraine High School in Wales, Wis., told WISN-TV. "I heard, like, one crack, and then the whole thing collapsed from under us."

The teens had gathered at Lac La Belle, a 1,154-acre lake in southeastern Wisconsin, for a photo session before the big dance, according to WISN-TV in Milwaukee, Wis.

“The person behind was like, 'Everyone on, get on’,” junior Jacqueline Rosch told WISN-TV. 

What Rosch and other couples didn’t expect was complete collapse of the wooden pier. Soaking wet, the teens were pulled from the water without any injuries, according to WISN-TV.

Anne Mccormack / Courtesy WISN TV Milwaukee

“It was akin to [watching] a car accident,” Kathy McCormack, a mother who was there photographing her daughter, told ABC News. "You heard the screams coming off the dock and it was like they were falling one after the other in slow motion into the lake.”

With a little hustle and a lot of help from fans, clothes dryers and hair dryers, the teens made it to prom with a memorable story to share.

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Courtesy of Mary Eckert

Mary Eckert holds up the yellow dress she bought to wear at prom.

With prom still about a month away, Mary Eckert has already found the perfect yellow floor-length dress, but she says she's behind on her tanning schedule.

"Girls already started, it's crazy," Eckert, a junior at a high school in Manheim, Pa., told mnsbc.com.

She plans to start tanning next week by spending 12 minutes on a tanning bed every other day or so. Her yellow dress will look better on tanned skin, Eckert said.

"I think people just look better when they're tan," she added.

The prom and tanning go hand-in-hand, but the practice has come under renewed scrutiny after a recent study published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings found the incidence of melanoma in young adults has soared, with a sixfold increase in the past 40 years. The rise is particularly noteworthy in young women ages 18 to 39, where the incidence of melanoma increased eightfold from 1970 to 2009, and fourfold in young men.

“The number one thing – stop going to tanning beds,” dermatologist Dr. Jerry Brewer, one of the study’s authors, told NBC News. “All correlations point toward that as the reason for the increase.”

For young women, melanoma rates on the rise

In a statement released last week, the Indoor Tanning Association called the study "a leap of pure speculation."

"There is no consensus among researchers regarding the relationship between melanoma skin cancer and UV exposure either from the sun or a sunbed," the association said.

While the dress remains the pièce de résistance of prom night, hairstyle, makeup and glowing skin are seen as essentials to complete a perfect look for a very special night.

'Everybody's going to do it'
Tanning sessions are not cheap, but salons offer student specials, 2-for-1 offers or package deals. Eckert pays $27 for a monthly membership that allows her to go daily, if she chooses. She said she pays for it herself from the money she earns working at a grocery store.

"I know that everybody's going to do it for prom," she said, including some boys.

Eckert says she's aware there are some health risks that come with tanning, but "I just do not think about that because it makes me nervous."

If her skin gets burned, she said, she puts on aloe or lotion. "Even if I burn, when I peel I get dark," she added.

Jean O'Reilly

Ann Hinrichs says her turquoise dress will look great on her natural skin color.

People get pressured into tanning because so many teens do it, Ann Hinrichs, a junior at a high school in Fridley, Minn., told msnbc.com. She says she's never tanned indoors because skin cancer runs in her family, and added that she doesn't understand the appeal. Some girls, she said, just end up looking orange. 

"It just doesn't look natural," Hinrichs said.

There have been efforts in several states to limit indoor tanning for minors. Minnesota introduced a special tax on tanning and last year California enacted a law prohibiting those under 18 from indoor tanning. Illinois, Utah, Michigan, Arizona, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut are considering similar bans.

For many teens, however, tanning is a way of life, not just another step in preparation for prom. Eckert said she's had her salon membership for about three months, though she doesn't plan on going often after prom. In the summer, she says, she tans on the beach every day.

"When I tan, it makes me feel better, you know?" she said.

For her part, Hinrichs says her turquoise dress will look great on her natural skin color.

"One night shouldn't completely change the way I look," she added.

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