National Teen Driver Safety Week began today and ends Oct. 24. Its mission is to bring teens, community leaders, educators, and parents together to take action and increase awareness to help prevent teen crashes, the leading cause of death for American teens.
In 2008, according to our statistics, there were 46,492 traffic crashes involving 15-to-19 year olds, which led to 81 fatalities and more than 8,000 injuries. Fifty-four percent of the drivers were not wearing seat belts and in more than 1,200 of the crashes, the driver had been drinking.
The majority of teen crashes occur between the hours of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The three most common contributing factors of teen crashes include, failure to yield, failure to reduce speed and driving too fast for conditions. In sixty-eight percent of teen crashes, the teen driver was named at fault for the crash.
It is important for parents and communities to take an active role in teaching young drivers the responsibilities a safe driving. Let’s all work together to keep our most valuable asset, our future, safe.