2011
During our last post we talked about the general decline in fatal car accidents across the United States and the conflicting increase in the number of fatal car accidents that occurred in Pennsylvania over the last year. We also talked about proposed laws on teenage driving and in this post we will talk about three common factors that cause teenage car accidents. In addition, the main thesis of the study is that the majority of teenage car accidents are not caused by reckless driving or by alcohol but by inexperience.
According to one of the authors of the study who is the director of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Center for Injury Research Prevention at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia teenage car crashes do not occur because teenagers are behaving badly but because teenage drivers have not developed the required skill set. The study examined around 800 serious teenage car accidents from around the United States and found that 76 percent of the crashes were caused by a critical teen driving error. A critical driving error is an error committed immediately before a crash.
The study found three errors common to teenage car accidents. Those three errors are: being distracted by someone or something inside or outside of the vehicle; traveling too fast for road conditions not just driving over the speed limit; and not properly observing the circumstances on the road or "scanning." An example of insufficient scanning would be a teenage driver not checking for on-coming traffic while completing a left-hand turn from an intersection.
The authors of the study the Center for Injury Research and State Farm Insurance also make three recommendations to parents on how they can better teach their teenage drivers. Parents should teach teen drivers to observe the entire field of the road and to be aware of conditions to the left and right. Teenagers should also learn how to control their speed in a variety of conditions including traffic and weather. Finally, parents should help teens reduce distractions such as electronic distractions and the reduction of rowdy passenger behavior.
Source: health.usnews.com, "Driver errors explain most teen crashes, experts say," Kathleen Doheny, 4/12/11
Tags: Pennsylvania, car crashes, inexperience, reckless driving, teen car accidentsComments: Leave a commentView the Original article