This is National Teen Driver Safety Week (October 14 – 20), so I thought it was the perfect time to discuss a couple of recent studies conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety showing how passengers can impact the safety of teenage drivers. The following statistics are from the Center for Disease Control (CDC):
- Motor Vehicle crashes are the #1 cause of death in the US amongst teens.
- In 2010 7 teens between the ages of 16 and 19 die every day from motor vehicle injuries
- Teen drivers between ages 16 and 19 are three times more likely than drivers 20+ years old to be in a fatal vehicular crash
These statistics should get the attention of all drivers, but especially those parents with teenage drivers in this category now or in the near future. The most recent study looked at teenage drivers’ tendency for potentially risky behavior with passengers present as compared to driving alone and piggy backed on another report from May 2012 by the AAA Foundation covering how the probability for a fatal crash increased with 16 and 17 year old drivers carrying one or more passengers. The fact that teen traffic fatalities have been decreasing in the last few years, is credit to many of the graduated driver’s licensing rules that restrict inexperienced teenage drivers, but the findings by the AAA shows that there is still major risks for teenage drivers especially when carrying one or more passengers. So what did their studies show? Here are some highlights:
- Nearly 50% of all fatal crashes for drivers’ ages 16 to 17 years-old were caused by speeding compared to 33% for drivers in all other age groups.
- Speeding was a factor in 30% of fatal crashes involving 16-17 year-old drivers with no passengers. If the number of passengers increases to 2, speeding was a factor in 44% of fatal crashes.
- 42% of drivers’ ages 16 to 17 involved in fatal crashes had at least one teenage passenger and not passenger of any other age group.
- Risk of death in a traffic crash increases by 44% when a 16 to 17 year old driver has one passenger under the age of 21 in the vehicle. That risk of fatality doubles when carrying two passengers under 21, and quadruples with three or more.
- The probability for late night driving increased by 11% when there were three or more teenage passengers in a car compared to when there were zero passengers.
So what does this information tell us? I will leave that analysis to the readers, but I think most importantly these stats stress the importance of graduated drivers licensing for teens. Teen drivers are young and inexperienced, and many need more time before they are ready to handle the responsibilities. Many parents should consider this data and determine whether additional restrictions on their young driver(s) are warranted. Lastly, it shows the importance of education. It is one thing to complete a driver education course, but parents should consider spending additional time as a passenger with their teenage driver even after meeting their state’s licensing requirements to ensure their children have the necessary skills to be safe on the road and the responsibility to safely travel with passengers. Also, there are other educational courses to help equip teens with further driver safety knowledge. Defensive driving courses are not just for adult drivers that get tickets. Parents should consider sending their teen driver to a state approved driver safety course or defensive driving course for additional information. For Texas drivers, there is a course called a drug and alcohol driving awareness program which would also be a good educational addition.
