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Recent Teen Driver News
Teen Drivers and Passengers This is a link to an article on the CDC website with important information about factors that affect the risk that young adult drivers face. Being informed will help you be safe. Nothing in this article says that you can't be safe. But the article will help you know the leading causes of crashes so you can manage the risks. Your risk of being in an injury or fatal crash increase with each passenger. You can manage this risk by learning the distraction avoidance habits as explained in the Challenge series. Know and follow the laws of your state regarding passengers under your graduated privileges.
Siblings die in fatal crash. In late 2022 - a brother and sister died in a single-vehicle crash in northern Minnesota. The driver of a Volvo station wagon lost control when the vehicle hit a ice patch on a curve. The driver lost control and the car went off the road and crashed into a tree. The crash claimed the life of the 19-year-old driver and his 14-year-old sister. Both driver and passenger were not wearing seat belts.
Seat belt wearing or not wearing is a habit that once developed becomes automatic. This sad event is an excellent example of the GAAP Triad - Never, Always, Once. Drivers who know that Always wearing a seat belt ensures that they will have one on if the unexpected happens. This driver probably had traversed this section of road many times since it was close to the home of both he and his sister. So he knew the road and his vehicle and was probably practicing safe driving in all other respects. He failed to calculate factors he didn't know and indeed couldn't know because ice is often hidden under snow, or because it blends into the road color.
It's not possible to know for sure if seat belts would have saved one or both lives. It is possible to know that if the driver and passenger always wore them, they would not have made an exception on this fateful night. And wearing them may have made the difference between living and dying.
Teens killed in high-speed crash. Two 17 year old teens were killed in what has been described as an airborne crash in St. Paul MN. The 16-year-old driver was traveling at a high rate of speed and lost control. The vehicle rolled, became airborne and collided with a row of trees. In addition to the two fatalities, another 17-year-old passenger suffered life threatening injuries.
High speed driving is one of the leading causes of crashes among all drivers, and even more-so among teen drivers. While anyone can lose control once the speed rate exceeds the control-ability of the vehicle, inexperienced drivers have less understanding of the threshold of control loss. Teens are often over-confident in their own ability to control the car. While they may be very skilled, there are physical laws that enter into play when the speed of the car causes the car to lose connection with the road surface.
Drivers who always obey the traffic laws, and know that they are not execmpt from the laws of nature regardless of their skill will never drive at an unsafe speed.
Crash survivor describes recovery Driving fast may impress your friends for a moment or two, but the truth is, they'd much rather feel safe and get back alive and uninjured. It seems unlikely that any teen ever got out of a car with friends and said to the driver, "you should have gone faster and been more reckless." Neither will they get out of the car and congratulate the driver on being careful. But at least if you are careful, they will live.
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