National Teen Driver Safety Week was held from October 15 – 21 last year. Teens record a higher than average number of accidents and the awareness week was held to alert them to the risks.
Some of the initiatives included boosting seat belt use among teens.
Studies repeatedly show seat belt use among teens is lower than older age groups.
Research on Teendriversource found 2,206 young adults aged under 20 were not wearing a seatbelt when they died in car crashes in 2013. That was just over half of the teens who died that year.
In 2015, 6.1 percent of teen passengers said they rarely or never wore a seat belt recently, nearly 20 percent down on 1991.
Teen issues were Highlighted during National Teen Driver Safety Week
Unsurprisingly, teens from states with primary enforcement seat belt laws are more likely to wear seat belts than teens in other states. They were found to be 12 percent more likely to buckle up compared to teens in states with secondary seat belt laws. Georgia has primary seat belt enforcement legislation, states the Governors Highway Safety Association
Underage drinking is and driving is another area of concern. Despite minimum age drinking laws, many young people continue to drink alcohol anyway.In 2013, 29 percent of drivers who lost their lives in accidents between the ages 5 and 20 had alcohol in their systems.
In 2015, almost 1 out of 5 teen drivers who died in an accident had consumed alcohol before driving. Alcohol impairs all drivers. The effects of alcohol or drugs on inexperienced teen drivers is likely to be more extreme than in older drivers.
Distracted driving is another persistent teen driving issue, notwithstanding laws to clamp down on drivers who text or check social media when they drive.
In 2013, over 3,000 deaths and 420,000 injuries were attributed to distracted driving car accidents. As many as 10 percent of drivers were distracted.
Teens are usually more susceptible to peer pressure to text. Many studies have shown that when teenagers are the passengers of other teen drivers, the accident rate greatly increases.
Every summer we see a spike in teen driving crashes in Georgia. Earlier this year a high-speed police crash involving teen drivers led to nine separate crashes in Georgia.Teen crashes remain a massive concern on the highways of Georgia.
If you have been involved in an accident involving a teen driver or you were hurt as a passenger, you may have grounds to hire a personal injury lawsuit. Call the Law Offices of Michael West at (404) 913-1529.