Do you have a teen driver or one that is about to get their license? If so, you may be surprised by some new research that was just released in conjunction with National Teen Driver Safety Week. If a teen driver is in a vehicle along with other teens, the fatality rate in that situation for any occupant increases 51 percent.
If a teen is driving and has a passenger that is 35 or older, the overall fatality rate decreased by 8 percent. The silver lining in these numbers is that overall, over the last few years, teen driver fatalities have decreased. However, there were 1 million reports of teen crashes in 2016 that resulted in over 3,200 deaths.
The fact is, teens are crashing more frequently when peers are in the vehicle with them. If you believed that distracted driving was only due to a phone or the radio, you can add other teen passengers to that list too. When a teen is driving with other teen passengers in the car, the fatality rates increased:
- 56 percent for occupants other than the driver
- 45 percent for the driver
- 17 percent for people on bikes or pedestrians
The freedom to drive and be with friends in a car is a rite of passage for a teen that can sometimes make them lose focus on driving. If you also consider the lack of experience behind the wheel, teen drivers are very dangerous entities on the roads. Some facts relating to teen drivers:
- The leading cause of death for a teenager is a car accident.
- It is nine times more likely for a teen driver under age 18 to have an accident than middle-age drivers.
- Sixty-one percent of teen drivers admit to dangerous driving habits.
- Teen drivers are much more likely to miscalculate dangerous conditions or not even recognize them at all.
If your teen recently attended a driver’s education class, it does not mean they were able to retain all the information for road safety. The statistics mentioned above indicate that education regarding safe driving should continually be shared with your young driver in an effort to keep them and others safe.