Teen Driver Crashes in America

February 3rd, 2011 |

Teen driver crashes is seriously making news across America as government and the people both are upset about the news that more teenagers are dying on the roads because of reckless driving. In one of the research report by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies it was revealed that more teens have been dying in America because of teen driver crashes than of cancer and suicide. The report also highlights that 30% of the people that died in the incidents were not present in the car at that moment. This means that reckless driving is dangerous for pedestrians and people using the road as well.

The report highlights that in the year 2008 nearly half a million Americans lost their lives because of teen driver crashes and the numbers are increasing year after year. According to Dennis Durbin, Co-Scientific Director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP and co-author of the report people together should take care of the situation rather than blaming the teenage drivers who have become the victims of their reckless driving. He suggested that even those people who don’t have any teen driver at home should drive their car properly and also educate the teens around them to be responsible while driving their car.

The research also brought into picture certain key behavior patterns in teens that can be used in the future by road safety policymakers to curb down the situation. The four key behavior patterns like speeding, distractive driving, not wearing seat belts and use of alcohol are the main reasons for teen deaths in the United States. In more than 50% of the cases teenagers died because they were speeding their car over the limit without wearing any seat belts. Apart from that the use of alcohol and talking on cell phones or with peers have also led to deaths and injuries of teen drivers. The research concludes that most of the reasons for teen driver crashes were because of inexperience and carelessness and that it could be avoided by giving proper road safety education to the teens so that they understand the true value of life.