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Many states, including Pennsylvania, have developed graduated licensing programs that restrict the number of passengers teen drivers can carry in their vehicles. Teenagers might gripe about the laws, but a new study has revealed just how dangerous it is for teen drivers to be surrounded by friends in a vehicle.
The study by AAA’s safety foundation concluded that a teenage driver’s chance of being killed in a motor vehicle accident increases substantially when other teens are in the car and drops when an adult is in the passenger seat.
The AAA’s study surveyed government data on car accidents involving teen drivers from 2007 to 2010. The study found that the risk of death per mile driven by a 16- or 17-year-old driver increases 44 percent when there is one passenger younger than 21 in the vehicle (and no older passengers). When there are two passengers under the age of 21, the risk doubles, and when there are three or more passengers under 21, the risk quadruples.
Interestingly, the study concluded that the risk of a teen driver being killed in a car accident decreases by 62 percent when there is an adult aged 35 or older as a passenger.
The results of the study were released as part of the kickoff to Global Youth Traffic Safety Month. May was chosen as the month to raise awareness on teen driving safety because the highest number of fatal car accidents involving teens occurs during the summer months.
Thankfully, the number of 16- and 17-year-old drivers involved in fatal car accidents fell by more than 50 percent from 2000 to 2010. Safety officials believe that graduated licensing programs, safer vehicles and more campaigns aimed at seatbelt usage and drunk driving are all to thank for the drop.
Source: The Washington Post, “Study: A teenage driver’s risk of dying in a crash goes up sharply with other teens in the car,” May 7, 2012