{"id":855,"date":"2017-10-19T10:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dealerfireblog.com\/buyherepayhereusa\/?p=855"},"modified":"2023-10-14T04:40:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T04:40:02","slug":"teenager-driving-tips-national-teen-driver-safety-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autosimple.com\/blog\/teenager-driving-tips-national-teen-driver-safety-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenager Driving Tips for National Teen Driver Safety Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teenagers can\u2019t wait to get their driver\u2019s license. For teens, driving is new, fun, and liberating\u2014a near-obligatory rite of passage. And parents will enjoy the extra time away from personal\u00a0chauffeur\u00a0duties, even if they dislike the higher insurance premiums.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, teens and cars are a dangerous combination. Car crashes are still the leading cause of teen deaths.<\/p>\n

In honor of National Teen Driver Safety Week<\/strong><\/a>, established by Congress in 2007, we are sharing some important information on the teen driving problem and what you can do about it.<\/p>\n

The Teen Driver Problem<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Car crashes are the #1 cause of death among teens. In 2015, 2,715 teenagers died in the U.S. from crash injuries. An additional 221,313 teenagers were treated in emergency departments in 2014.<\/li>\n
  2. The crash rate for teen drivers is 3-4x the crash rate for adults. This discrepancy increases at night and when other teens are in the vehicle.<\/li>\n
  3. The crash rate is worst during the first few months of licensure. The risk is highest at age 16.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Source: <\/em>Insurance Institute for Highway Safety<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

    Furthermore, research shows that the presence of passengers increases the crash risk among teenage drivers but decreases the risk among drivers 30 years and older. One study<\/a> showed that the presence of peers increased risk taking among adolescents (but not adults) in a simulated driving game. Adolescent decision making is directly influenced by the mere presence of peers as shown in numerous studies of reckless driving<\/a>, substance abuse<\/a>, crime<\/a>, and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    In addition to being more susceptible to peer pressure than adults, young drivers also have the tendency to overestimate their own driving abilities. Peer pressure combined with poor risk assessment and inexperience makes it difficult for teenagers to drive safely.<\/p>\n

    Unfortunately, telling teenagers about the risks of the road (\u201cscaring them straight\u201d) may not have an impact. Research has shown that feedback about bad news makes little to no impact on teenagers\u2019 estimates of risk assessment. While adults will alter their estimates of some event occurring based on new information, adolescents have been shown to update their estimates if there is good news, but bad news doesn\u2019t make much of an impact.<\/p>\n

    As summarized by Robert Sapolsky in his new book, Behave (p. 161):<\/em><\/p>\n

    Researcher: \u201cHow likely are you to have a car accident if you\u2019re driving while drunk?\u201d Adolescent: \u201cOne chance in a gazillion.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Researcher: \u201cActually, the risk is about 50 percent; what do you think your own chances are now?\u201d<\/p>\n

    Adolescent: \u201cHey, we\u2019re talking about me; one chance in a gazillion.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Compared to adults, teenagers are at higher risk of violence, substance abuse, crime, unsafe sex, poor health habits, and automobile crashes and fatalities. These risky behaviors are the greatest threat to teenagers in industrialized societies.<\/p>\n

    For reasons that have a lot to do with neurobiology and environment, teenagers take a lot more risks and are bad at risk assessment.<\/p>\n

    What is being done about risky teenage driving?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Teenagers\u2014the odds are against them. Luckily, some changes have been made to help reduce the risk of automobile accidents, such as graduated licensing programs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    These programs have greatly reduced the number of teenage driver crash involvements. While graduated licensing programs vary in strength from state to state, most jurisdictions have some combination of the following restrictions on young drivers:<\/p>\n