“Should teenagers be allowed to drive?” is one of those topics that adults feel passionately about. Although the law in the United States allows teenagers to apply for a learner’s permit once they’re 16-years-old, the parents, general public and traffic wardens sometimes feel differently.
Even though there are definitely positive aspects of getting educational training and learning to drive at an early age, there are also a couple of negatives. Based on the data collected by the CDC, five to six teenagers—between the ages of 16 and 19—die every day due to traffic accidents, while hundreds are involved in non-fatal accidents.
Raising the age limit could fix the issue to an extent but until that happens, let’s gather some insight into the risk factors associated with teen drivers.
Inexperience
The biggest problem with teen drivers is their inexperience. The crash rate stats for teen drivers are four times higher compared to adult experienced drivers. Inexperience can lead to bad decisions under pressure resulting in the wrong use of brakes, over-speeding and confusion.
Despite popular belief that risky driving is the most influencing actor, these critical errors due to inexperience are the leading cause of teen driving accidents.
Youthfulness
There are certain attributes that teenagers share universally. These attributes are characterized by the need for sensation, adventure and thrill-seeking activities. Combining all these with inexperience during driving can lead to catastrophic results.
Distraction
Excitement often leads to distraction and therefore, road accidents. Some common reasons as to why a teenager may be distracted during driving are:
- Texting or calling during driving
- Trying to connect the phone with Bluetooth or aux of the car
- Dancing and singing along to the music
- Presence of passengers in the car
Peer Pressure
Teenagers often practice risky driving to impress their friends or due to strong peer influence. Teenagers are more vulnerable to feeling the pressure from their friends and may try going over the speed limit as a dare or close follow to provoke other drivers on the road.
Research says that the developmental transition of the brain causes behavioral changes and these changes can prove to be costly during driving.
Forgetting to put on seatbelts
Young and teen drivers ignore wearing seatbelts, especially in the absence of a supervisor or a parent. Seatbelts can prevent fatal injuries and stats show a strong relationship between fatal crashes and lack of seatbelt usage.
One way to minimize these risks is parental supervision during the initial months. Supervisors and driving instructors can also help your teenager understand these risks better and therefore prevent them from dealing with these challenges.
Teen drivers also learn better while learning from an experienced driving instructor instead of learning at home. Instructors can help them guide through different challenges and cover all bases during the initial months.
If you’re thinking of buying your teenager a car and you’re based in Phoenix or surrounding cities in Arizona, help them learn expert driving skills by enrolling them at Jacob’s Driving and Traffic School. We offer an extensive range of driving lessons by hour, as well as courses on defensive driving.
To know more, get in touch!
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