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| SOBRIETY SEATBELTS SPEED DISTRACTIONS | ||||||
Key Facts:
County youth traffic
deaths are at an alarming rate; many are avoidable.
From 2000 to 2004, 43 youths died on local roads, according to the coroner's
office. Alcohol plays a role in an alarmingly number of these deaths locally
- 75% in 2004.
More than 1 in 4 Hoosier high school students rides in a car with a
driver who's been drinking.
CDC data shows that 28 percent of Indiana high school students had ridden
with a driver who had been drinking alcohol during the 30 days preceding the
survey.
1 in 8 Hoosier high school students drinks and drives.
The same government study shows that, during the 30 days preceding the
survey, 12.4 percent of Indiana high school students DROVE a car when they
had been drinking alcohol.
Parents have the greatest influence over teen drivers.
Nearly 60 percent of high school students say their parents are the biggest
influence on their driving. Young drivers whose parents talk with them about
drunk driving, seatbelt use and speed control are less likely to be killed
or hurt in a car crash.
The human toll of a teen traffic death is unthinkably tragic. The economic
impact is easier to measure:
Based on calendar year 2000 data, the U.S. economic cost of an average
roadway fatality is $977,000, and the economic costs associated with a
critically injured crash survivor are $1.1 million.
Beginning drivers' crashes differ.
Teen drivers have the highest crash risk of any age group. Per mile
traveled, new drivers have the highest involvement rates in all types of
crashes, from those involving only property damage to those that are fatal.
The problem is worst among 16-year-olds, who have the most limited driving
experience.
On the basis of miles driven, teenagers are involved in three times as many
fatal crashes as are all drivers. Why do young drivers have such poor
driving performance? Three factors work together to make the teen years so
deadly for young drivers:
— Inexperience
— Risk-taking behavior and immaturity
— Greater risk exposure
Inexperience: All young drivers start out with very little knowledge
or understanding of the complexities of driving a motor vehicle. Like any
other skill, learning to drive well takes a lot of time. Technical ability,
good judgment and experience all are needed to properly make the many
continuous decisions, small and large, that add up to safe driving. By
making it so easy to get a driver's license by literally handing teenagers the
car keys without requiring an extended period of supervised practice-driving
time we are setting them up for the risk of making a fatal mistake.
Risk-taking behavior and immaturity: Adolescent impulsiveness is a
natural behavior, but it results in poor driving judgment and participation
in high-risk behaviors such as speeding, inattention, drinking and driving,
and not using a seatbelt. Peer pressure also often encourages risk taking.
Greater risk exposure: Teens often drive at night with other teens in
the vehicle, factors that increase crash risk.
For more key facts look in our Drive Alive 5-Alive Parent Guide.
