KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- It's killing thousands of teens every year and injuring hundreds of thousands more. We're talking about car accidents, and a recent study ranks Tennessee number 6.

And state officials say they are not surprised by the findings, because they know there is still work to be done to make teens better drivers.

Justin Tackett says, "I've had my license for 3 months and 7 days."

But it took 36 hours of driver's school before Justin got behind the wheel by himself. "a lot of interstate driving, which i thought was the hardest," says Justin.

Allstate Insurance Company's study found nearly 6,000 teens die in accidents every year on U.S. roads, hundreds of thousands more are injured, and Tennessee is number 6 Nationwide, with more than 1,200 teen deaths over 6 years.

Director of the Tenn. Governor's Highway Safety Office, Kendell Poole say, "It's no surprise to us at the Governor's Highway Safety Office that we come in at that ranking in the Allstate report." He says, "We still come up short because Tennessee does not have mandatory driver education."

Craig Smith owns Drive-Rite Driving School and for 20 years he's been teaching new drivers, distractions can be very dangerous.

Craig says, "If you're just learning from someone that is not really versed in what's the best way to handle a situation, you're not going to do the right thing."

The study finds speeding is actually the leading cause of fatal crashes involving teens nationwide.

Teenagers also have the lowest seat belt use of all drivers.

Craig says, "Driving is something you're going to do life long, and you need to learn how to do it the right way."

Distractions inside the car, such as texting while driving, is another major contributor for teens' accidents.

Justin says, "They think that since they've been doing it in the classrooms they can go without looking, they can keep their eyes on the road, but it's not that, there's always a chance, doing anything, that you might not survive."

The study doesn't just focus on states, Allstate ranked the 10 deadliest hot-spots of the top 50 metro areas, and the Nashville area is 4Th.

And right now we are in the middle of the deadliest time of year for teen drivers, with the majority of crashes happening in the Summer.