A latest research by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor says that teens who take alcohol and marijuana in combination are more likely to indulge in risky behavior like unsafe driving.

Researchers surveyed 72,000 high school seniors in the U.S. This survey was conducted annually from 1976-2011 under the Monitoring the Future Study.

The findings showed that the teens who had alcohol and pot together in the previous year reported most number of traffic tickets or warnings. Around 30 percent of these students were involved in road accidents. The researchers warned that the risk was more in those who drank alcohol and smoked pot at the same time (21 percent).

More than 50 to 90 percent of the teens were reported to be involved in unsafe and reckless driving.

"It's well known that both drinking and other drug use are linked to risky driving," lead researcher Yvonne Terry-McElrath, of the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor said in a press release. "But this suggests that it's not only the frequency of substance use that's important. The patterns of drug use are also related to the risk of unsafe driving."

On the brighter side, the researchers noted a fall in drug abuse. In 2011, one-third of high school students said they did not indulge in alcohol or drugs in the past one year compared to 12 percent in 1979.

"Driver's education needs to talk more about the risks, in believable ways-not using inaccurate scare tactics," Terry-McElrath said. "More broadly media messages about unsafe driving should go beyond alcohol. We often hear the message- Don't drink and drive. But we don't hear much about the risks of using additional substances, either alone or simultaneously with alcohol."

The finding was published in the 'Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.'