Safe Teen Driving Blog
Providing a solid BASE for Teen Drivers by improving Behavior, Attitude, Skills, and Experience
Monday, November 16, 2009
Teens and Nighttime Single Vehicle Crashes
As you read the daily news, a familiar pattern begins to occur. You begin to notice the car crashes that happen at night with only one vehicle involved. Many times, these crashes involve teen drivers.
Is it your imagination? No.
Many typical characteristics of teen crashes are:
Nighttime driving not only diminishes a driver's visibility, but also their distance and speed perception, making it harder to judge a situation and respond quickly. Speeding decreases the time and space available to react and increases the severity of any injuries. Many times teenagers react too quickly and overcorrect or lose control of the vehicle, resulting in a single-vehicle crash. Drowsy driving is also more prevalent at night, and teens are especially vulnerable to fatigue and need additional sleep during this developmental time. In addition, other drivers on the road are more likely to be less attentive, drowsy or under the influence at night.
What can be done?
Create and enforce stricter Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) laws that give teens the privilege of driving but limit their exposure to higher risk situations encountered, by restricting nighttime driving, teen passengers and cell phone use. Experience behind the wheel is best gained in the daytime when accompanied by an experienced adult driver and under ideal driving conditions. GDL has proved successful in reducing crashes and fatalities among teen drivers as they progress to unrestricted driving at age 18.
Teens are ready to drive and need to be given the tools to drive safely. Understand the risk factors that young teen drivers face and place limits on driving privileges until they acquire the valuable experience needed to develop those tools safely.
Is it your imagination? No.
Many typical characteristics of teen crashes are:
- Teens are more likely than any other age group to be involved in a single-car crash. Among passenger vehicle drivers' ages 16-19 involved in fatal crashes in 2008, 49 percent were involved in single-vehicle crashes. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Nighttime fatal crash rates for 16 year olds are nearly twice as high as daytime rates. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- In 2008, 37 percent of the 15- to 20-year-old male drivers who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crash.
Nighttime driving not only diminishes a driver's visibility, but also their distance and speed perception, making it harder to judge a situation and respond quickly. Speeding decreases the time and space available to react and increases the severity of any injuries. Many times teenagers react too quickly and overcorrect or lose control of the vehicle, resulting in a single-vehicle crash. Drowsy driving is also more prevalent at night, and teens are especially vulnerable to fatigue and need additional sleep during this developmental time. In addition, other drivers on the road are more likely to be less attentive, drowsy or under the influence at night.
What can be done?
Create and enforce stricter Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) laws that give teens the privilege of driving but limit their exposure to higher risk situations encountered, by restricting nighttime driving, teen passengers and cell phone use. Experience behind the wheel is best gained in the daytime when accompanied by an experienced adult driver and under ideal driving conditions. GDL has proved successful in reducing crashes and fatalities among teen drivers as they progress to unrestricted driving at age 18.
Teens are ready to drive and need to be given the tools to drive safely. Understand the risk factors that young teen drivers face and place limits on driving privileges until they acquire the valuable experience needed to develop those tools safely.
Labels: drowsy driving, gdl laws, Graduated Driver Licensing, prevent drowsy driving, teen drivers, teen driving accidents
Friday, May 08, 2009
Four Ways Teens Benefit from Following Graduated Driver Licensing Laws
It isn't uncommon for teens to rebel against Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws. They may reason that since they passed the driving test, they shouldn't have to deal with restrictions. Or they may be unfamiliar with the GDL laws in their state and violate them unintentionally. But there are many benefits to obeying GDL laws for teens, such as:
1. They're a chance to prove your maturity and trustworthiness. One of the basic requirements for functioning in our society is the ability to follow the rules. Teens who are unwilling to do so demonstrate a lack of maturity and make other people, specifically adults, think they can't be trusted. Conversely, showing that you're willing to abide by certain restrictions lets adults, specifically your parents, know that you are grown-up and dependable enough to handle additional privileges.
2. They can help you get out of risky situations with your pride intact. You may have the best intentions of following GDL laws, but sometimes friends make that a challenge. It might be hard to resist when a friend wants you to break curfew or pile one too many passengers into your vehicle; GDL laws give you an outside authority you can blame for your refusal to do these things. You can explain that you don't want to get caught breaking the law because you might lose your license and/or your parents might ground you from driving if you get a traffic ticket.
3. They're the law. You won't be lying if you tell a friend you are afraid of losing your license for breaking GDL laws; violating the terms of the law could result in the loss of your driving privileges. If you get a ticket for breaking a GDL law, you will have to pay a fine and your insurance rates, which are already high, could increase. After accruing a certain number of points on your license, you could lose it for a specified period of time and have to pay more fines to get it back. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the GDL laws in your state.
4. They really do keep you safe. GDL laws exist because statistically, teens get into many more crashes than adult drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), sixteen-year old drivers have crash rates that are about three times greater than 17-year-old drivers, five times greater than 18-year-old drivers, and approximately twice the rate of 85-year-old drivers. We know that GDL laws work, because there has been an overall decrease in fatal crashes involving teens nationally since GDL laws began to be implemented. Specific restrictions have also been found to be effective; for example, an NHTSA study found that states with nighttime driving restrictions for teen drivers show decreases in crashes of up to 60% during the restricted hours. GDL laws work because they help teens increase their driving skills while minimizing the risks of being on the road with limited experience.
You can probably see how these four factors tie together. If you break GDL laws, you show the adults in your life that you can't be trusted, you are more likely to be peer-pressured into taking risks you know you shouldn't take, you take a chance on losing your license, and you raise the possibility that you or someone riding with you will be injured or killed in a crash. When you choose to follow GDL laws, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
1. They're a chance to prove your maturity and trustworthiness. One of the basic requirements for functioning in our society is the ability to follow the rules. Teens who are unwilling to do so demonstrate a lack of maturity and make other people, specifically adults, think they can't be trusted. Conversely, showing that you're willing to abide by certain restrictions lets adults, specifically your parents, know that you are grown-up and dependable enough to handle additional privileges.
2. They can help you get out of risky situations with your pride intact. You may have the best intentions of following GDL laws, but sometimes friends make that a challenge. It might be hard to resist when a friend wants you to break curfew or pile one too many passengers into your vehicle; GDL laws give you an outside authority you can blame for your refusal to do these things. You can explain that you don't want to get caught breaking the law because you might lose your license and/or your parents might ground you from driving if you get a traffic ticket.
3. They're the law. You won't be lying if you tell a friend you are afraid of losing your license for breaking GDL laws; violating the terms of the law could result in the loss of your driving privileges. If you get a ticket for breaking a GDL law, you will have to pay a fine and your insurance rates, which are already high, could increase. After accruing a certain number of points on your license, you could lose it for a specified period of time and have to pay more fines to get it back. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the GDL laws in your state.
4. They really do keep you safe. GDL laws exist because statistically, teens get into many more crashes than adult drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), sixteen-year old drivers have crash rates that are about three times greater than 17-year-old drivers, five times greater than 18-year-old drivers, and approximately twice the rate of 85-year-old drivers. We know that GDL laws work, because there has been an overall decrease in fatal crashes involving teens nationally since GDL laws began to be implemented. Specific restrictions have also been found to be effective; for example, an NHTSA study found that states with nighttime driving restrictions for teen drivers show decreases in crashes of up to 60% during the restricted hours. GDL laws work because they help teens increase their driving skills while minimizing the risks of being on the road with limited experience.
You can probably see how these four factors tie together. If you break GDL laws, you show the adults in your life that you can't be trusted, you are more likely to be peer-pressured into taking risks you know you shouldn't take, you take a chance on losing your license, and you raise the possibility that you or someone riding with you will be injured or killed in a crash. When you choose to follow GDL laws, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Labels: gdl, Graduated Driver Licensing
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Support for Graduated Driver Licensing Laws
According to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), adolescent drivers, especially 16- to 17-year olds, are disproportionately involved in deadly motor vehicle crashes. Sixteen-year old drivers have crash rates that are about three times greater than 17-year-old drivers, five times greater than 18-year-old drivers, and approximately twice the rate of 85-year-old drivers. According to the NHTSA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), specific contributors to these higher crash rates include:
Lack of driving experience and skills: Compared with crashes of older drivers, those of 16-year-olds more often involve driver error
A propensity towards risk taking behavior and poor decision-making
Driving at night: Per mile driven, the nighttime fatal crash rate for 16-year-old drivers is twice as high as during daytime hours
Distraction from teenage passengers: Fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers are more likely to take place when other teens are in the vehicle, and the risk increases with every additional passenger
Speeding: Sixteen-year old drivers have a higher rate of crashes in which excessive speed is a contributing factor
Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs help young drivers get driving experience progressively while minimizing risk, beginning with a restricted permit and eventually leading to full licensure.
Most programs include three stages:
Learner Stage: Supervised driving, ending with a road test
Intermediate Stage: Limiting unsupervised driving in high-risk circumstances
Full Privilege Stage: A regular driver's license
Provisions of graduated licensing laws may include:
Required hours of adult supervision during the learner stage
Restrictions on late-night driving
Restrictions on driving with teen passengers
Seat belt requirements for drivers and passengers
Restrictions on cellular phone use
Prohibiting the driver from moving up to the next level due to traffic violations
GDL laws in most of the states that have them do not comply with all of the recommendations of the NHTSA; still, there has been an overall decrease in fatal crashes nationally since GDL laws began to be implemented. In 2006, 7,463 drivers who were 15 to 20 years old were involved in fatal crashes - an eight percent decrease from 8,074 involved in 1996. Individually, states with GDL laws also show improvement:
California: A five percent decrease in crashes for 16- and 17-year-old drivers
Florida: A nine percent decrease in crashes for 16- and 17-year old drivers
Michigan: A 26% decrease in crashes for 16-year-old drivers
North Carolina: A 25% decrease in crashes for 16-year-old drivers
Oregon: A 29% decrease in crashes for 16-year-old drivers and a 16% decrease in crashes for 17-year-old drivers
NHTSA research has also found that the most comprehensive GDL programs are associated with the greatest decrease in crash rates for teen drivers.
It is more difficult to evaluate the individual components of GDL laws because of the overlap of restrictions, but the NHTSA has conducted some research in this area. An analysis of the passenger restriction laws in California, Massachusetts, and Virginia indicated that there were 740, 173, and 454 fewer 16-year-old involved in crashes per year, respectively. A different study found that states with nighttime driving restrictions for teen drivers show decreases in crashes of up to 60% during the restricted hours.
Public support for GDL laws is also strong. In 2007, the NHTSA conducted the Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS), a national telephone survey about driver safety. Seventy-nine percent of the participants said that teen drivers should proceed from a learner's permit to a provisional license status rather than directly to an unrestricted adult license. The results of the survey also indicated strong support, ranging from 73% to 99%, for specific restrictions on provisional driver license status, such as:
Requiring young drivers to wear a seat belt at all times
Prohibiting driving after 9pm, unless supervised by an adult
Limiting the number of teenage passengers allowed in the vehicle
Prohibiting the use of a cellular phone while driving
Requiring the new driver to hold the provisional license for at least one year without any traffic violations before receiving an unrestricted adult license
GDL provisions are still in their infancy in many states, so evaluating the results of these programs is difficult. However, outcomes so far are promising. The enactment of and enforcement of these laws are important steps in efforts to save the lives of young drivers.
Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs help young drivers get driving experience progressively while minimizing risk, beginning with a restricted permit and eventually leading to full licensure.
Most programs include three stages:
Provisions of graduated licensing laws may include:
GDL laws in most of the states that have them do not comply with all of the recommendations of the NHTSA; still, there has been an overall decrease in fatal crashes nationally since GDL laws began to be implemented. In 2006, 7,463 drivers who were 15 to 20 years old were involved in fatal crashes - an eight percent decrease from 8,074 involved in 1996. Individually, states with GDL laws also show improvement:
NHTSA research has also found that the most comprehensive GDL programs are associated with the greatest decrease in crash rates for teen drivers.
It is more difficult to evaluate the individual components of GDL laws because of the overlap of restrictions, but the NHTSA has conducted some research in this area. An analysis of the passenger restriction laws in California, Massachusetts, and Virginia indicated that there were 740, 173, and 454 fewer 16-year-old involved in crashes per year, respectively. A different study found that states with nighttime driving restrictions for teen drivers show decreases in crashes of up to 60% during the restricted hours.
Public support for GDL laws is also strong. In 2007, the NHTSA conducted the Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS), a national telephone survey about driver safety. Seventy-nine percent of the participants said that teen drivers should proceed from a learner's permit to a provisional license status rather than directly to an unrestricted adult license. The results of the survey also indicated strong support, ranging from 73% to 99%, for specific restrictions on provisional driver license status, such as:
GDL provisions are still in their infancy in many states, so evaluating the results of these programs is difficult. However, outcomes so far are promising. The enactment of and enforcement of these laws are important steps in efforts to save the lives of young drivers.
Labels: gdl, Graduated Driver Licensing
Archives
June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 January 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 Current Posts
