Between 3,500 and 4,000 teen drivers die each year in motor vehicle accidents - that's more than 10 each day. Additionally, more than 350,000 teens are treated in emergency rooms each year for injuries sustained in a car accident. That comes out to about one seriously hurt teen every 90 seconds.
And the frightening stats just keep coming - especially if you're the parent of a teen driver or soon-to-be driver.
In the United States, the crash rate per mile driven for 16-19 year-olds is four times the risk for older drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Risk is highest at age 16. In fact, the crash rate per mile driven is twice as high for 16 year-olds as it is for 18-19 year-olds.
It's enough to drive Mom or Dad to hide the keys and confine their child to the house until age 25!
But there are encouraging figures, too: death and injury rates for teen drivers have gone down substantially since 1975. This is generally attributed to a number of factors, including improved car safety, graduated driver licensing, increased awareness of seatbelt use, stronger enforcement of drinking and driving laws, reducing teens' access to alcohol and parents taking more responsibility for preparing their teens for driving.
Last week, U.S. News Media Group examined what states are doing to make their roads safer for young drivers and compiled the findings in its first ranking of the "Best States for Teen Drivers."
The District of Columbia is the safest and South Dakota is the most dangerous, according to the study. After D.C., the top 10 rounds out with California, Colorado, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Minnesota, Utah, and Washington. Tennessee is just outside the top 10, ranked the 12th safest state for teen drivers.
U.S. News examined states' driving laws and road conditions, stats on teen driver fatalities and injury accidents, average vehicle miles traveled per capita, percentage of teen drivers with licenses and other factors.
Some sources indicate that graduated driver licensing (GDL), wherein young drivers do not earn full driving privileges until they have more driving experience and maturity, has the greatest impact in reducing teen driver accidents and fatalities. GDL programs reduce, by an average of 11 percent, the incidence of fatal crashes of 16-year-old drivers, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
GDL programs differ by state, but typically include a minimum age for obtaining a learner permit, a minimum number of hours of supervised driving, and restrictions on nighttime driving and carrying passengers.
Tennessee has three phases of licensing for teens under 18 years of age - learner permit, intermediate restricted license and intermediate unrestricted license.The requirements and restrictions earned Tennessee a Good rating in an IIHS review of states' GDL laws.
But laws only go so far. Young drivers are more prone to engage in risky behavior, they have less experience behind the wheel and they're more easily distracted. Parents must take responsibility for helping prepare and supervise their young driver.
Parents have to remember that they have the final say in how and when their teen will get a permit and drive. Regardless of what state laws require, driving privileges need to be given when your teen demonstrates the maturity to handle that privilege.
Ultimately, a parent wants to be sure they've done everything possible to keep their child from becoming an awful statistic.
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