Readers Digest Special Report: The Dangers of Teen Driving

Driving Skills For Life. Ford Motor Company Fund and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). Both Ford Motor Company Fund and GHSA are 501c3 non-profit organizations and do not endorse any specific products.

Allen County Drive Alive. The after-school hours are a dangerous, potentially deadly time for teen drivers, according to Jon Brandenberger, MD, Allen County Coroner and President of Drive Alive.

For parents and future teen drivers needing solutions, instruction, statistics and education on everything about safe teen driving.
www.drivehomesafe.com

A site full of tips to help new drivers.
www.teendriving.com

Parent-Youth Safe Driving Contract
developed with the input of teens, parents, police, traffic safety experts and researchers.
www.ipromiseprogram.com

Insurance Institute For Highway Safety
Beginning teenage Drivers
www.iihs.org

National Safety Council
A Family Guide to Teen Driver Safety
http://www.nsc.org/issues/teendriving/index.htm

Department of Motor Vehicles
easy-to-access information and resources for all your needs in every state.
www.dmv.org
 

This is the third update of research on graduated driver licensing (GDL) and related teenage driver issues. It briefly summarizes research published since or not included in the 2005 update (Hedlund, J., & Compton, R. (2005). Graduated driver licensing research in 2004 and 2005. Journal of Safety Research, 36(2), 109–19.), describes research in progress of which the authors are aware, and announces plans for a symposium on teenage driving and GDL to be held in February 2007. D 2006 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Graduated driver licensing; Beginning drivers; Teenage drivers; Driver education

http://www.nsc.org/issues/teendriving/docs/GDLTeenDriving2006Article.pdf
 

“This PDF table lists licensing requirements for the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. During the 1990s, many states moved toward graduated licensing. Some have enacted virtually all the elements of graduated licensing, while others have enacted only parts. Another area in which the laws differ is enforcement. Some states prohibit police from stopping young drivers solely for night driving violations or passenger restrictions (secondary enforcement). The Institute has evaluated the licensing systems using criteria designed to estimate the strength and likely effectiveness of the systems in reducing injuries. In particular, strong or optimal restrictions on the initial license phase and how long the restrictions last beyond the 16th birthday are credited. No state has an optimal graduated licensing system.”

http://www.iihs.org/laws/state_laws/grad_license.html
or
http://www.iihs.org/laws/state_laws/pdf/us_licensing_systems.pdf
 

FEBRUARY 2007

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year olds. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,467 drivers in this age group died in motor vehicle crashes in 2005 and an additional 281,000 were injured. Drivers age 15- to 20-years old accounted for 12.6 percent of all the drivers involved in fatal crashes and 16 percent of all the drivers involved in police-reported crashes. Twenty-three percent of teen drivers killed were intoxicated. In 2002 the estimated economic cost of police-reported crashes involving drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 was $40.8 billion, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Among licensed drivers, young people between the ages of 15 and 20 have the highest rate of fatal crashes relative to other age groups, including the elderly. In fact, the risk of being involved in a fatal crash for teens is three times greater than for drivers age 65 to 69.

Immaturity and lack of driving experience are the two main factors leading to the high crash rate among teens. Graduated licensing laws, which include a three-phase program that allows teen drivers to develop mature driving attitudes and gain experience behind the wheel, have been successful in reducing teen motor vehicle accidents.

http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/teendrivers/?table_sort_746315=4
http://www.teendrivinginfo.com/teen_driving_resources.htm