Teens Driving Teens Equals Recipe for Accidents

Kentucky transportation officials have found that teenagers are much more likely to be involved in a car accident while they are driving with another teenager.
Transportation safety officials in Kentucky have long been aware that when teenage drivers are driving with passengers of their age group, they have a higher risk of accidents. That's why the state has a restriction of not more than one passenger in a teenage motorist's car during the intermediate stage.

The AAA recently conducted a survey which found that driving with teenage passengers constituted a much higher accident risk for teenagers, especially for 16 and 17-year-old drivers. Among the drivers of this age group, there was an increase in fatal accidents linked to speeding when there were other teenage passengers in the car. There was also an increase in other risky behaviors, l

ike driving in late in the night as well as intoxicated driving.

The researchers found that a total of 9,578 motorists between 16 and 17 years of age were involved in fatal accidents. At least 3,094 involved at least one teenage passenger. The research seems to confirm the wisdom of having passenger restrictions on teen motorists.

Federal transportation officials including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have long been aware that teenagers who are driving with other teenagers could be increasing their own risks of accident. The biggest reason why teenage passengers are so dangerous for teenage motorists is the kind of distraction they pose. Adult passengers in the car may not constitute the same kind of distractions that a person of the same age group will. Moreover, with teenagers in the car, a driver may feel find himself under peer pressure to engage in destructive practices, like driving at excessive speeds.

Parents of teenage children need to consider the results of this study very carefully, and understand that they need to enforce restrictions on teen passengers very strictly.