It’s been said time and again, motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death among teenagers ages 15 to 19 in the United States. On October 16-22, we’ll be celebrating the National Teen Driver Safety Week. Spearheaded by the Congress and now on its 9th year, the program aims to increase awareness on safe driving behavior among teens. Activities will be conducted across the country and if you want to host your own, you can get inspiration from these samples.
Statistics
●According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 1,717 drivers aged 15 to 20 were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2014. This number went up by 1 percent from the 1,697 recorded fatalities in 2013.
●Still from the same age group, injuries recorded in 2014 were approximately 170,000. Injury statistics went down by 4 percent from 177,000 in 2013.
●In 2014, there were 214.1 million licensed drivers in the United States. Drivers ages 15 to 20 account for 5.5 percent of 11.7 million.
●In the same year, 451 or 26 percent of drivers 15 to 20 years old who were killed in motor vehicle crashes had alcohol in their systems, 366 or 81 percent were at .08 g/dL or past the legal driving limit for those legally permitted to consume alcohol.
●NHTSA also reported that the number of fatalities involving young drivers has decreased steadily from 2005 to 2014.
Safe Driving for Teens
As a Kentucky Accident Attorney, I would like to emphasize the importance of setting a good example to young drivers at home. Long before teens got to receive their driving licenses, they probably watched your driving behavior and paid close attention. We can’t tell our kids to put their phone face down while driving if they see us do otherwise all the time. It also helps to talk to our kids and set rules for them.
It’s easy to brush off statistics especially if we know no one close to us that have been affected by a motor vehicle crash. But we need not wait for that time to come to be more cautious of our driving behavior.
Motor vehicle crashes claim lives year after year. But we can keep our young drivers safe by training them to be responsible on the road early on, even before they get to drive their own car.
For more information contact the personal injury lawyers at The Shafer Law Office today!