- According to a 2005 survey by the Allstate Foundation
- More than half (56 percent) of young drivers use cell phones while driving,
- 69 percent said that they speed to keep up with traffic
- 64 percent said they speed to go through a yellow light.
- 47 percent said that passengers sometimes distract them.
- Nearly half said they believed that most crashes involving teens result from drunk driving.
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According to the NHTSA
- From 1994 to 2003, a total of 57,142 teenagers were killed in motor vehicle crashes.
- Teenage drivers account for only 6.4 percent (12.5 million) of the total drivers in the United States, but account for 14 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes and 18 percent involved in police-reported crashes.
- No other kind of hazard comes close to claiming as many teenage lives, including teenage homicides (14 percent) and suicides (11 percent).
- Based on crashes of all severities, the crash rate per mile driven among 16- to 19-year-olds is four times the risk among older drivers.
- 59 percent of teenage passenger deaths occur in vehicles driven by another teenager.
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According to the CDC
- Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate dangerous situations.
- Teens are more likely than older drivers to speed and allow shorter headways (the distance from the front of one vehicle to the front of the next).
- The presence of male teenage passengers increases the likelihood of this risky driving behavior.
- Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among U.S. teens, accounting for 36 percent of all deaths in the age group.
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According to the IIHS
- Risk is highest at age 16, and the crash rate per miles driven is twice as high for 16 year olds as it is for 18 and 19 year olds.
- 16- and 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger.
- The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group, and per-miles-driven teens ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to crash.
