By Dana Covington, R.N., M.S.N.
Most parents are apprehensive about the thought of their teenager becoming a driver. Unfortunately, statistics back up their fears.
More teens die in car crashes than any other single cause. They are involved in four times more crashes per mile driven than any other group of drivers. At highest risk are the youngest drivers: the 16- and 17-year-olds.
Experts believe that teens fare so badly on the road for two major reasons. One, not surprisingly, is that teens are inherent risk-takers. Some are apt to speed, drive while intoxicated, play loud music, have friends fooling around in the car, use cell phones and text messaging. These distractions greatly increase the risk of teens crashing.
The other reason applies to even the most conscientious teen. New drivers simply do not have enough experience to quickly recognize and react to potentially dangerous conditions. It’s easy for them to get into serious trouble in any unusual situation. It’s no surprise that teens are often involved in single-vehicle crashes that entail driver error.
Good Article…I work for a non-profit where we try to teach teens the importance of safe driving and the common dangers associated with teen car accidents. As you have mentioned there are the obvious reasons teens get into accidents (inexperience, inherent risk-takers,…), but one issue that we are seeing more and more are teens texting while driving.
Hopefully, more and more states begin to address this issue and begin to enforce strict laws to prohibit the use of cellphone use while driving.
Anyway just my two cents and again Good Article