According to AAA, eighty-eight percent of travelers (31.8M) will travel by automobile between Memorial Day and Labor Day. And with motor vehicle crashes being the leading cause of death in teens, so marks the beginning of the 100 Deadliest Days for teen drivers, when more are on the road for summer break.
Safe Kids Worldwide, with the help of the General Motors Foundation, recently conducted a survey of 1,000 teen passengers and drivers to learn more about their behaviors in vehicles.
Here are some results:
- While the number of teen driver deaths has decreased since its peak in 2002 (5,491 deaths), there is now a greater proportion of teen passengers unrestrained in crashes (46.8% drivers vs. 54.2% passengers).
- What’s more surprising is that many teens feel unsafe riding in the car with a teen driver, yet still do so without wearing a seat belt.
- 50% of teens felt unsafe with a teen driver and 31% have felt unsafe with a parent driving
- Almost six in 10 have ridden with a parent who was talking on the phone
- 28 percent have been with a parent who was texting while driving
- Speaking up to an unsafe driver is a challenge for many in the survey; 40 percent of teens say they ask the driver to stop what they’re doing, but another 39 percent say they do nothing
The study also found that having a passenger who wasn’t using a seat belt sitting behind a restrained driver increased the risk of death to the driver by 137 percent, compared to having a passenger who was using a seat belt.
The full study can be found here: https://www.safekids.org/research-report/research-report-teens-cars; and I’ve attached a photo to be used with the caption below.
Caption: With more teens dying in motor vehicle crashes than from any other cause, a new Safe Kids Worldwide report, funded by the GM Foundation, identifies strategies to drive down this statistic and emphasize the importance of buckling up every ride, every time.
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