Auto Accidents Biggest Killer Of Teens In USA

[FSTargetDrone]

Story here:

Half kids who died in crashes had teen drivers

Two thirds of young passengers also weren't wearing seat belts, study says

The Associated Press

updated 4:03 p.m. ET, Mon., March. 3, 2008

CHICAGO - Car crashes are the leading cause of death for tweens and teens, and a new study outlines some of the most dangerous circumstances: riding unbuckled with new teen drivers on high-speed roads.

These were the three biggest risk factors contributing to car crash deaths for passengers aged 8 to 17, the study found.

While young drivers have higher chances of dying, the six-year study focused on nearly 10,000 children passengers who were killed in car crashes. More than half — 54 percent — were riding with a teen driver. Drivers younger than 16 were the most dangerous.

Also, more than three-quarters of the fatal crashes occurred on roads with speed limits higher than 45 mph, and nearly two-thirds of the young passengers were not wearing seat belts, the researchers found.

Other dangerous circumstances for young passengers included drivers who’d been drinking alcohol, male teen drivers, and driving on weekends.

The message for parents is simple and sobering: Don’t let your teen ride with a teen driver who has less than a year’s experience driving. Insist on seat belts. And practice ways teens can resist peer pressure to ride with other teens, said Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the study’s lead author.

“Knowing the risks can help parents and teens make smart decisions about which rides are safe, and which ones are off limits,” said Winston, the founder of the hospital’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

The researchers examined national data on serious car crashes including those resulting in death between 2000 and 2005. During that time, 2.5 million children aged 8 to 17 were involved in crashes and 9,807 died.

Risk of death is double if driver is a teen
The risk of death for kids riding with drivers aged 16 to 19 was at least double that of those riding with drivers aged 25 and older. There were about two deaths per 1,000 crashes for young passengers with 25-plus drivers, versus more than four deaths in the younger group.

The study, conducted with State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., appears in the March edition of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. State Farm funded the research.

Recent federal data indicate that the percentage of U.S. 16-year-olds with driver’s licenses has fallen since 1998 (from roughly 44 percent to about 30 percent), during a time when restrictions on teen driving generally increased.

But no states have all the restrictions recommended by State Farm, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Philadelphia hospital.

For example, they say the minimum age for a learner’s permits should be 16. But nine states grant them to 14-year-olds and at least 30 others give them to 15-year-olds. Also, the groups say drivers younger than 18 should not be allowed to have more than one teen passenger without adult supervision, but only 34 states have that restriction, according to data provided by the hospital and State Farm.

Rosie Jermakian, a Bethesda, Md., 16-year-old, said the study results hit home, particularly because of a recent spate of teen car crashes in the Washington, D.C. area, including one that involved a friend. Rosie’s stepmother does research at the Philadelphia hospital but was not involved in the study.

“Teen drivers don’t always think,” said Rosie, who has a learner’s permit and hopes to get her license soon. “Sometimes they think they’re just in this little bubble where they can’t get hurt and they don’t really think of the consequences.”

Winston, the study author, said that means teen passengers and their parents have to take precautions, and the Jermakian family does.

“I’ve told her flat out, in regard to some of her friends who I don’t believe have been well taught in these areas, that she is not to get in a car with them driving,” said Joel Jermakian, Rosie’s father.

Her parents also have told her to call them for a ride if she ever faces a potentially dangerous driving situation.

Jermakian said the study “reminds us that in raising teens, constant dialogue about all these kinds of things is important.”

Earning a driver's license needs to be made more difficult and involve more training. And perhaps raising the minimum age. I don't know what else is to be done.

[Darksider]

I'm sure it's been said before, but Teenage recklessness + Car = death.

Raising the minimum age won't help unless it's to somewhere in the twenties.

Eighteen year olds aren't that much more mature than sixteen year olds in the "doing stupid shit" department.

[K. A. Pital]

Eighteen year olds aren't that much more mature than sixteen year olds in the "doing stupid shit" department.

They're somewhat more mature still. Even raising it to 18 like most normal countries have would get some positive effect. But by all means I support the raise to age 21-22.

No cars for stupid teen fucks.

[FSTargetDrone]

They're somewhat more mature still. Even raising it to 18 like most normal countries have would get some positive effect. But by all means I support the raise to age 21-22.

No cars for stupid teen fucks.

I turned 16 back in 1990 and everyone in my circle and most everyone in my high school at that age immediately got a license. I didn't get mine until I was 18, but it still amazes me how there was this natural assumption that as soon as you hit 16, you got the license. The people who didn't start the ball rolling to get the license as they turned 16 were few and far between.

And the qualifications, at least in the state of Pennsylvania, were a joke. You'd have to be braindead not to pass the "test" at the time, both the written part and the actual driving part. Driver's education classes were not even mandatory (though it apparently helped to reduce insurance, if I remember right). You just applied for a learner's permit, had someone (parent, etc.) show you how to drive, then eventually show up at a state testing area and take the test.

[KlavoHunter]

I received my license at 19 - Though I'm pretty sure it was a case of "oh god, let's delay this as long as we possibly can" on my parents' part.

This study shows that kids in cars with teen drivers suffer the most - This is one of those "duh" moments.

According to Wisconsin state law, when you receive a license, you cannot have ANYONE in your car who is not an adult driver themselves for a probationary period of...6, 9 months? I'm fuzzy on the details, it was a while ago and I followed the rules like a good boy.


Of course, to the new teenage driver - what temptations and circumstances are there that inevitably put other people who are not supposed to be there, in their car?

"Sweetie, take your little sister to Soccer practice."

"Hey, buddy, wanna drive us all off-campus for lunch? You got a car, man!"

I'm sure you can concoct other scenarios just as easily.



Now, place these other people in this young, inexperienced new driver's car.

It's less likely that they'll be ordering and reminding the passengers to put on their seat belts, for various reasons - such as it's "uncool", or they just simply forget to check and make sure, because they haven't formed that habit yet.


Now, young, inexperienced drivers are statistically the most likely to get into an accident. Say that, via whatever factors in this case coming together, an accident occurs.

Combine a car accident with people not having their seatbelts on, and people are going to die.





Personally, I don't think the answer here is to raise the driving age. Doing that only removes one half of the problem with the drivers, and that's the half that I think is less important - that these drivers are young. Upping the driving age to 18 will result in inexperienced 18 year old drivers on the road.

18 is frankly a bad age to only JUST START learning about driving, and gaining experience - many people move out at 18, thus drastically cutting parental involvement. Suddenly it becomes less convenient, and overall harder, for them to find time to tool around in the family car with Mom or Dad, while their parents impart valuable driving wisdom to them.

[K. A. Pital]

I guess we'd have to analyze the relationship between driving age and the number of accidents among freshmen drivers. If it correlates strongly, there might be a dependency.

And no, shifting it to 18 has an effect, at least here in Russia. (1) You can't get a car while you're young, so you're most probably using not your own one (2) By 18 you get a little responsilbe with other people's stuff, else you might get hurt. Maybe you already got a rough deal for a few times in your life. (3) the person starts higher education, and this alone has a huge maturation effect - suddenly school habits like bullying and being an ass aren't really valued any more and there's a lot of new data coming in.

[LapsedPacifist]

I work in a high school now. At 16, it's obvious you're still dealing with children. At 18 you almost have real people.

Now that varies both situationally and moment to moment. 18 year olds still fuck up, but on general, they're worlds better than younger students.

LP

[Schuyler Colfax]

The difficulty of your driver's test depends on where you live. For example the driver's test in New York is like Rainbow Road (Mario Kart Double Dash) while here in Florida is more like Baby Park. (Also Mario Kart Double Dash)

I'm expected to have a fucking permit already and I have yet to take my drug and alcohol test.

[Flagg]

The difficulty of your driver's test depends on where you live. For example the driver's test in New York is like Rainbow Road (Mario Kart Double Dash) while here in Florida is more like Baby Park. (Also Mario Kart Double Dash)

I'm expected to have a fucking permit already and I have yet to take my drug and alcohol test.

When did they start doing drug and alcohol tests?

[Broomstick]

They make you take alcohol and drug tests now?

I got my learner's permit at 15 and my license just after my 16th birthday - but my situation was a little different than usual as my mother was terribly ill and the family needed another driver to do chores and transport mom so next-oldest sibling could go back to college and finish her education. For me, my early driving was duty and necessity, not privilege and freedom.

Also, back then, if you passed your high school driver's ed class you weren't required to take a road test at all. Yeah, that's right - I went in, passed the vision test, answered some questions, passed the written test and walked out with a license. Back then there were no restrictions on new drivers, either - I could load up a station wagon with a dozen kids my age and legally drive down the road at 2 am the day after I got my license.

Yes, things have changed.

[Wicked Pilot]

I first soloed in an aircraft at 16, and there are many others like me. I can't give you stats on accident rates among that cross section of the aviation world but I'll bet they're statistically insignificant and indistinguishable. I fully believe that if you make a driving license something that requires time, effort, and dedication, you'll see a lot more seriousness and maturity behind the wheel, by shear virtue of attrition if need be.

[Darth Wong]

Frankly, if you go to a DMV office and look at the drivers trying to get licenses, you can probably tell which ones are going to be fucking reckless assholes just by looking at 'em and listening to them speak for a few minutes. Unfortunately, there's no provision in the code for the driving test personnel to scratch in "looks and acts like an asshole".

[aerius]

Unfortunately, there's no provision in the code for the driving test personnel to scratch in "looks and acts like an asshole".

On a bit of a tangent, here at Customs we have a code we check off called "doubt", if someone looks or acts suspiciously we mark the box and he gets sent into secondary for closer inspection.


Back to the topic, I can't say I'm surprised. When licenses are handed out like candy to teens, bad shit is going to happen. Many teens already have a lack of respect problem among various other attitude problems, and when they get can easily get a license they're not going to value it much nor treat it with any responsibility.

One thing I'd do is make the test hard enough so that 80-90% of teens taking it get flunked out. Make the test long, demanding and stressful, so that people with attitude issues get flustered and fuck up, ensuring that they don't get a license. Take'em through downtown streets at rush hour, make them drive through half-blocked one way streets, see if they can handle being stuck in traffic, honked at, and cut-off without losing their cool. That'll probably take care of most of the jackasses with attitude problems.

[DaveJB]

We have a similar problem over here; our driving test has the lowest first-time pass rate in the EU (about 30%, IIRC), yet teen driver fatalities are still shockingly high.

Part of the problem is that for some reason, the test has become oriented not around driving safely, but being able to perform low-speed manoeuvres with superhuman precision. You can drive along at 40mph in a 30 zone and easily get away with it, yet even the slightest mistake when doing manoeuvres causes an instant fail.

[RogueIce]

The difficulty of your driver's test depends on where you live. For example the driver's test in New York is like Rainbow Road (Mario Kart Double Dash) while here in Florida is more like Baby Park. (Also Mario Kart Double Dash)

I'm expected to have a fucking permit already and I have yet to take my drug and alcohol test.

When did they start doing drug and alcohol tests?

I think he's referring to that three hour course, that includes a test at the end. I remember taking it back when I got my license. Although maybe things have changed since then.

Anyway, I wonder what the relationship is between drivers who wreck and the cars they drive. Seriously, when I see some of these 16, 17, and 18 year olds driving around in new Mustangs, BMWs, and other cars that obviously smack of mommy and daddy's money, I tend to think to myself, "Yep, they're going to be an asshole" and it usually pans out as I see them speed, lane change without signaling, trying to floor it when the light is yellow, etc.

Of course people with shitty cars can be just as dumb, but when you're young and you have a car with some muscle, there is the temptation to go out and put that muscle to the test. Combined with the fact they probably don't know how to handle themselves, and well...

Although the above is all speculation on my part. I wonder if anyone's even done studies like that.

[J]

Anyway, I wonder what the relationship is between drivers who wreck and the cars they drive. Seriously, when I see some of these 16, 17, and 18 year olds driving around in new Mustangs, BMWs, and other cars that obviously smack of mommy and daddy's money, I tend to think to myself, "Yep, they're going to be an asshole" and it usually pans out as I see them speed, lane change without signaling, trying to floor it when the light is yellow, etc.

My fiancée calls them "asshole cars" since far more often than not the driver is invariably an asshole. To him, pickup trucks, SUVs, luxury performance cars, sports cars, and gauded up economy cars all fit into this category. If he sees one he'll give it a lot of space in preparation for when the driver does something stupid, which happens far too often.

[Schuyler Colfax]

The difficulty of your driver's test depends on where you live. For example the driver's test in New York is like Rainbow Road (Mario Kart Double Dash) while here in Florida is more like Baby Park. (Also Mario Kart Double Dash)

I'm expected to have a fucking permit already and I have yet to take my drug and alcohol test.

When did they start doing drug and alcohol tests?

I think he's referring to that three hour course, that includes a test at the end. I remember taking it back when I got my license. Although maybe things have changed since then.

Anyway, I wonder what the relationship is between drivers who wreck and the cars they drive. Seriously, when I see some of these 16, 17, and 18 year olds driving around in new Mustangs, BMWs, and other cars that obviously smack of mommy and daddy's money, I tend to think to myself, "Yep, they're going to be an asshole" and it usually pans out as I see them speed, lane change without signaling, trying to floor it when the light is yellow, etc.

Of course people with shitty cars can be just as dumb, but when you're young and you have a car with some muscle, there is the temptation to go out and put that muscle to the test. Combined with the fact they probably don't know how to handle themselves, and well...

Although the above is all speculation on my part. I wonder if anyone's even done studies like that.

Well when I do get my license (I'm not exactly in a rush, mostly beacause stories like these) my mom will give me her Mazda 6 and get a new car. Personally I'd prefer an older car considering that the Mazda 6 eats up gas like a bitch. And you're right I wouldn't know how to handle a car with muscle.

[Xisiqomelir]

bububu the killer weed

[LadyTevar]

I'll admit it. I got my license at 16, and I came damn close to wrecking the car a few times while out driving. (I did, however, manage to miss the tree that both my elder and younger brother hit on a certain road we all used.)

Unfortunately, I see a lot of teen/tween drivers cross my desk at work. "Rollover", "Single Car collision with Tree", etc. But it's the "Ejected, no restraints" that really makes me wish they taught these kids better.

[Broomstick]

Frankly, if you go to a DMV office and look at the drivers trying to get licenses, you can probably tell which ones are going to be fucking reckless assholes just by looking at 'em and listening to them speak for a few minutes. Unfortunately, there's no provision in the code for the driving test personnel to scratch in "looks and acts like an asshole".

No kidding.

Last week I was at the DMV getting a Motor Vehicle Report in connection with applying for a job that requires a commercial driver's license. As it happens, that particular part of the office also handles fines and license reinstatements. You could really tell who was there because of a one-time bad circumstance and who was just a fucking hazard. The prize winner was a kid who had to cough up hundreds of dollars in fines and he didn't even have a learner's permit. His mom was pissed off that he would have to wait until July in order to get the permit to get his license - lady, how the fuck could your boy rack up that many violations when he didn't even have a license? Holy shit! I just hope he doesn't kill anyone else when he finally earns his Darwin Award.

Meanwhile, the lady sitting next to me in line (you know it's a long wait when they provide chairs for people in line) was holding back tears - a commercial driver for 15 years and she had had a bad accident that cost her her job. No alcohol or drugs involved - as a commercial driver she had been tested just after the accident. It was the sort of fuck up any human being could have: bad weather, bad luck and a moment's inattention. As she said, in the commercial driving world if your record is clean and you weren't under the influence you do get a second chance but it's hard getting a job with a bad accident on your record.

Really makes you wish that FuckUpBoy had had a bad encounter with MsUnfortunate's 18 wheeler, except I think it would really fuck her up if she had killed a young man, even accidently.

Seriously - which of those two driver's would YOU want to share the road with?

[Broomstick]

I first soloed in an aircraft at 16, and there are many others like me. I can't give you stats on accident rates among that cross section of the aviation world but I'll bet they're statistically insignificant and indistinguishable. I fully believe that if you make a driving license something that requires time, effort, and dedication, you'll see a lot more seriousness and maturity behind the wheel, by shear virtue of attrition if need be.

I've thought for about 12 years now that if they made the driving test as thorough and difficult as the flight test the roads would a HELL of a lot safer. We'd also have a lot better public transit because a lot more people would need it to get around town.

Don't know how it was for Wicked, but before I was allowed to solo I had to pass a review with an instructor other than my usual one. I'm assuming that for his license he went through the same routine I did - an oral, written, and flight test. When you're getting tested for a pilot's license you can perform maneuvers perfectly and still get failed for a bad attitude or reckless attitude, but then, no one I've ever met ever expected a pilot's license as some sort of right (I'm sure a few of those exist, though). This is in contrast to getting a driver's license, where if you don't have one here in the US a lot of people will view you as a failed human being.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Eighteen year olds aren't that much more mature than sixteen year olds in the "doing stupid shit" department.

They're somewhat more mature still. Even raising it to 18 like most normal countries have would get some positive effect. But by all means I support the raise to age 21-22.

No cars for stupid teen fucks.

And how do you propose 18-20 yr olds get to and from work without a public transportation system?

[Darth Servo]

Um, this isn't news.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Eighteen year olds aren't that much more mature than sixteen year olds in the "doing stupid shit" department.

They're somewhat more mature still. Even raising it to 18 like most normal countries have would get some positive effect. But by all means I support the raise to age 21-22.

No cars for stupid teen fucks.

And how do you propose 18-20 yr olds get to and from work without a public transportation system?

Ride a fucking bicycle, maybe? Carpool with someone who can drive? There are options.


As far as this report is concerned, no shit, Sherlocks. Teens are immature idiots, high speeds make wrecks more dangerous, and not wearing a belt? Yeah, that makes it a lot worse. No fucking shit all three together is going to be incredibly deadly.

I honestly believe that the most dangerous drivers aren't dangerous due to skill level, but due to not driving in a mature manner. Me? I'm not the most skilled driver in the world. I'm not unskilled, I know how to drive in inclement weather, I know how to avoid dangers, all that stuff. But I've always been mature and responsible about it. I don't speed, I don't run lights, I don't rolling stop at stop signs, I signal... All that stuff. The stuff that doesn't take driving skill. You can fake all that in a driver's test, basically. Yeah, making the skill part harder would help, but a way of ensuring a mature, responsible mindset while driving is the important part.

Obviously, keeping inexperienced drivers away from overly large vehicles, high performance vehicles, and other kinds of vehicles that require greater amounts of skill to operate safely. Even if the driver is responsible, those vehicles are harder to control. A Mustang isn't an outrageously powerful car, but it will do things on you that a Civic won't. A big-ass SUV will naturally be worse for emergency breaking than a family sedan. So inexperience there will automatically make the vehicle more dangerous, even if the driver is very responsible and pays attention to everything around them.


All that being said, there's no way to ensure that we'll get rid of the idiots. There's still going to be assholes that drive like morons. And cars are currently common enough that making it harder to get a license would result in more people simply driving without one. There's enough people as is that do that. Not everyone would do that, of course. Damnable lack of a perfect solution.

[Broomstick]

Eighteen year olds aren't that much more mature than sixteen year olds in the "doing stupid shit" department.

They're somewhat more mature still. Even raising it to 18 like most normal countries have would get some positive effect. But by all means I support the raise to age 21-22.

No cars for stupid teen fucks.

And how do you propose 18-20 yr olds get to and from work without a public transportation system?

I guess we need more public transportation, don't we?

I dunno - take a cab? Walk or bike to work?

Actually, from age 18 to 33 I never drove to work - I took a train or bus the whole way. But then, I moved to a city that had public tranpsortation.