MAJORITY OF PEOPLE KILLED IN TEEN CRASHES

ARE PASSENGERS AND OTHER DRIVERS – NOT TEEN DRIVERS

NEWS from AAA Oklahoma, Feb. 27 – The majority of people killed in teen driver crashes continue to be people other than teen drivers themselves, according to an updated analysis of ten years of crash data by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

The analysis shows that about one-third of people killed in crashes nationwide involving drivers ages 15 to 17 are teen drivers themselves. Nearly two-thirds are passengers, occupants of other vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users.

“For every teen driver killed in a crash, almost twice as many other people die, which underscores the link between teen driver safety and the safety of everyone on the road,” said AAA spokesman Chuck Mai.

Nationally, between 1998 and 2007, crashes involving 15-, 16- and 17-year-old drivers killed 28,138 people, of whom 10,388 (36.9%) were teen drivers themselves. The remaining 17,750 (63.1%) deaths included 8,829 passengers of the teen drivers, along with 6,858 occupants of other vehicles operated by adult drivers, and 2,063 non-motorists and others. A previous analysis in 2006 found that between 1995 and 2004, crashes involving 15-, 16- and 17-year-old drivers claimed the lives of 30,917 people, of whom 36.2 percent were teen drivers themselves and 63.6 percent were others.

In Oklahoma, between 1998 and 2007, crashes involving 15-, 16- and 17-year-old drivers killed 582 people, of whom 211 (36.3%) were the teen drivers themselves. The remaining 371 (63.7%) included 182 passengers of the 15- to 17-year-old drivers, 147 occupants of other vehicles operated by adult drivers, 34 non-motorists and eight others.

“Young drivers face an array of potentially deadly challenges at the wheel,” said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger. “Parents and teens need to understand the serious responsibility of driving and the risks and consequences involved.”

AAA points to the drop in both teen driver deaths and the larger drop in deaths of others during the last decade as evidence that improving teen driver safety benefits all road users.

“During the last decade, as states like Oklahoma have improved their teen licensing systems and parents have become more involved, we have seen reductions in teen driver deaths and even larger reductions in the number of other people killed,” said Mai.  “Measures used to save teen drivers help us all.”

AAA Oklahoma continues to call for maintaining Oklahoma’s graduated driver licensing (GDL) system that lets new teen drivers gain experience under less-risky conditions. A recent analysis showed that since Oklahoma’s strong GDL law went into effect, deaths among 16- and 17-year-old drivers have dropped by 44 percent.

AAA encourages parents to play the leading role in developing their teen driver through regular dialogue, by selecting a quality driver’s education course or taking advantage of a certified parent-taught driver’s ed. program such as AAA’s “Take the Wheel” kit, and choosing a safe vehicle for their teen.

As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides more than 51 million members (330,000 in Oklahoma) with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers. AAA Oklahoma can be visited on the Internet at www.AAA.com.