by John Gomez | Last Updated: June 20, 2016

Many of us who are older likely remember those glorious days of our youth when school ended for the year.  Even if we worked summer jobs that we didn’t particularly enjoy, summer was a time of exuberant freedom.  Things are much the same these days, although we are learning more about the dangers teens in particular are facing when they get behind the wheels of vehicles during the summer.  AAA, or the American Automobile Association, has recently released a new study that looks at teen drivers and fatal car accidents.  Sadly, we are now a few weeks into what the organization refers to as the “100 Deadliest Days” for teen drivers. Below you’ll find an overview of the study, some relevant statistics and some ideas to consider if you have teen drivers at home.

About the Fatal Car Accidents Study

The study put out by AAA can be found here.  It takes a very detailed look at the behaviors of teen drivers.  Researchers at the AAA Foundation and the University of Iowa reviewed video footage of approximately 2,200 car accidents that was available because of in-vehicle cameras mounted on dashboards.  The videos revealed at least three very clear trends in crashes involving teen drivers:

1. 15 percent of crashes involved teens talking or otherwise paying attention to other passengers in the moments immediately preceding the accident.
2. 12 percent of the accidents showed teens talking or texting on a cell phone prior to the collision.
3. 11 percent of the crashes involved teen drivers dealing with something else inside the vehicle immediately before the accident occurred.

The study focused on drivers who were between 16 and 19 years old at the time the accidents occurred.  The videos that were studied recorded the six seconds immediately preceding the crashes.  In addition, the researchers found that rear-end crashes increased more than any other type of collision during this time frame.  This suggests that the drivers involved in them were distracted.

100 Deadliest Days

AAA has already spent time promoting the notion of the 100 Deadliest Days for teen drivers.  These 100 days span between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and fatal car accidents rise appreciably during what is summer vacation for most teens.  Crashes involving teen drivers increase by approximately 16 percent during these 100 days as compared to other points on the calendar.  As the study above suggests, driver distraction remains a big reason as to why these collisions are occurring.

Ideas for Teen Drivers

Parents obviously need to be aware of these types of risks faced by teens and anyone who happens to be on the road with them at any given time.  If you have a teen driver in your home, you may want to consider sitting down with him or her and discussing this data.  In addition, it should be made clear to them that driving while distracted can not only be costly, but fatal.  While that may be a difficult conversation to have, it’s most definitely worth the effort if it prevents a collision that takes lives unnecessarily.  If you or someone you love has been harmed or worse in a crash, you should also contact the San Diego car accident lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys to schedule a free initial consultation.

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