Teens and Cars: Keeping Teens Safe

Parents today display their pride for their children in various ways, even to placing a bumper sticker on the car that declares their child is an honor student. The very car that announces parental pride can become the one in which their child dies. The leading cause of death among the 15-20 year old population is car accidents. Teens comprise only 7% of licensed drivers; however, they account for 14% of the fatalities and 20% of all accidents as reported by the Insurance institute for Highway Safety.

Teenagers have the highest crash risk rate of any age group. This rate is four times higher than for other drivers. Factors in crashes include speed, alcohol and drugs, tailgating and ignoring the right of way, fatigue, and reckless driving. The most dangerous time is when a teen is transporting other teens as this is a major distraction. Driver error and speeding are likely to be the cause for most teen accidents.

Why do young drivers have so many accidents?

Inexperience at driving
Just as learning how to play a sport, learning to drive takes time. Handing over the car keys without a substantial period of supervision can be deadly for the teen driver.

Risk-taking behavior and lack of maturity
High risk behaviors such as speeding, drinking and driving and inattentiveness and not using a seat belt are indications of immaturity.

Great risk exposure
A high risk is teens driving at night with other teens for passengers.

Graduated Driver Licensing Program

The riskiest time is when teens initially start driving. They lack experience. A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed a 26% decrease in fatal crash rates of 16 year old drivers from 1993-2003. The study further attributed this decline to the Graduated Licensing Program instituted by several states, such as Maryland, Ohio, Florida, and California. The expectation is that as more states implement the program of driving restrictions on teens, the crash rate will drop.