Question: What are the statistics of fatal crashes involving teen drivers?
Answer: The AAA Foundation analysis shows that from 1995 through 2004 crashes involving 15, 16, and 17-year-old drivers claimed the lives of 30,917 people nationwide, of which only 11,177 (36.2%) were the teen drivers themselves. The remaining 19,740 (63.6%) included 9,847 passengers of the teen drivers, 7,477 occupants of other vehicles operated by drivers at least 18 years of age, 2,323 non-motorists. The analysis also shows that 12,413 of these fatalities occurred in single vehicle crashes involving only the vehicle operated by the teenage driver.
As of 2005, all 50 states have some sort of Graduated Drivers License law. However, GDL laws in many states are missing key components. The AAA Foundation recommends that all GDL laws have three stages with some combination of the following:
- Six- to 12-month learner’s permit with at least 50 hours of supervised driving.
- Six- to 12-month intermediate or probationary license with meaningful night and passenger restrictions:
- States should examine their own crash data to determine the starting time for night restrictions. At a minimum, probationary license holders should be restricted from driving from midnight to 5 a.m.
- All GDL laws should include meaningful passenger restrictions. At a minimum, teens should be prohibited from transporting other teen passengers for at least six months in the intermediate/probationary license stage.
Source: AAA Foundation.
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