Teen Driver Crash Risk 50 Percent Higher in First Month Driving Alone
Posted on Mon, Oct 24, 2011
According to a new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, teen drivers are approximately 50 percent more likely to crash in the first month of driving than they are after a full year of experience driving on their own, and are nearly twice as likely to crash as they are after two full years of experience.
Analyzing the crashes of new drivers in North Carolina, researchers found that three common mistakes - failure to reduce speed, inattention, and failure to yield - accounted for 57 percent of all crashes in which teens were at least partially responsible during their first month of licensed driving. Additionally, when researchers looked at specific types of crashes in relation to how long the driver had been licensed, they found that some types of crashes occurred at relatively high rates at first and declined particularly quickly with experience. For example, crashes involving left hand turns were common during the first few months of driving, declined almost immediately. The initial high rate and subsequent steep decline in certain types of crashes appeared to reflect teens' initial inexperience followed by rapid learning. Crash types that decline more slowly appear to result not from lack of understanding, but from failure to master certain driving skills.
"We know that young drivers' crash rates decrease quickly as they gain experience. What our new study tells us is that there are a few specific abilities that we could do a better job of helping teens develop before they begin driving independently," said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger.
A related AAA Foundation study used in-vehicle cameras to monitor teens when they were learning to drive with parents, followed by the first 6 months of licensed driving without their parents in the car. The research found that while teens had their learner's permits, routine trips on familiar roads under relatively easy driving conditions accounted for the bulk of the time spent behind the wheel.
The study also illustrated changes in teen behavior when a parent is no longer in the car. While the vast majority of driving caught on camera was uneventful, the study did capture a number of close calls due to simple mistakes likely attributable to inexperience, along with a few instances of texting behind the wheel, horseplay with passengers, running red lights, and other potentially distracting or dangerous behaviors.
From: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety