More teenagers die due to motor vehicle accidents than any other single cause. Nothing else is even close.

• Crashes account for nearly 40% of deaths of people in this age group.
• People age 16 to 20 have the highest fatality rate due to MVAs of any other age group.
• Crashes are the leading cause of disability related to head and spinal cord injuries.
• Two thirds of the teens who die in auto crashes are male.

Source:  The Teen Driver (Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention and Committee on Adolescence).  PEDIATRICS, Vol. 118(6), December 2006.

The chart on the right shows the top four causes of death in teenagers:  Automobile accidents (MVA's), homicide, suicide, and other (nonvehicular) accidents.  Look at how auto accidents compare to the next three most common causes of death in teenagers. 

If you are a parent, and if you are to suffer that greatest of family tragedies--the death of your child--the most likely cause will be a motor vehicle accident.

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