A Familiar Tragedy: How to Prevent Future Teen Crashes

Image via AAA Northeast

In Winchester, vehicle crashes caused by teens are all too common. Two young lives were tragically lost in the past year from motor vehicle accidents.

A study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that teens have the highest crash rate in the country.

The study revealed about 963,000 drivers, ages 16 to 19, were involved in a police-reported crash in 2013, which caused 383,000 injuries and 2,865 deaths.

Related:

• Winchester Teen Dies in Everett Crash
• Winchester Teen Killed in Saturday Car Accident, PD Investigating

Why do teens crash their cars? It’s most likely because they’re distracted, according to the study.

It was determined the rate of teens crashing their cars due to distraction is more common than previously thought.

Researchers analyzed the final seconds before a teen driver crashed the car and found that distraction was a factor in 58 percent of all teen crashes.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration originally thought distraction was a factor in only 14 percent of teen crashes.

“The in-depth analysis provides indisputable evidence that teen drivers are distracted in a much greater percentage of crashes than we previously realized,” said Lloyd P. Albert, senior vice president of public and government affairs for AAA Northeast in a press release.

The AAA found these factors to be the most distracting to teens before a crash:

• Interacting with a passenger: 15 percent of crashes
• Cell phone use: 12 percent of crashes
• Looking outside the vehicle: 9 percent of crashes
• Singing/dancing to music: 8 percent of crashes
• Grooming: 6 percent of crashes
• Reaching for an object: 6 percent of crashes

How to prevent another tragedy

AAA feels that the state should have laws prohibiting teens from using cell phones and to limit passengers to one non-family member for the first six months a teen receives his or her license. There are 33 states that have teen cell phone prevention laws.

Parents can teach their teens about safe driving by creating ground rules for their teens in a parent-teen driving agreement. Learn more at TeenDriving.AAA.com.​

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