Understanding the types of risks faced by teen drivers in Atlanta, Duluth, Savannah or surrounding areas of Georgia is important because 963,000 teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were involved in motor vehicle crashes over the course of 2013. And those were just incidences reported to police. These collisions resulted in 2,865 people losing their lives and caused an additional 383,000 injuries.
An experienced personal injury lawyer knows that the spring and summer season are very high risk times for young people. Events like prom, spring break, graduation, and summer break all lead to more teens on the road and more young kids driving around with their friends in the car. Parents need to talk to their kids about driving risks and kids need to know the dangers on the road so they can make smart choices and try to stay safe.
Teen Driving Risks in Atlanta
Much of the data on teen driving accidents comes from police reports, but this can result in incomplete data. When police take an accident report, some information is left off and other information may not be known at the time. Naturalistic data can provide a more comprehensive picture of what happened before a crash, but the data has to be reviewed in order to determine what occurred.
Many studies of naturalistic data have been small in scope, but the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety recently conducted a large-scale study of 1,691 crashes involving teen drivers aged 16 through 19.
The study revealed that a full 66 percent of motor vehicle accidents involving teen drivers happened because teens made errors in the decisions they made. Some of these errors included things like tailgating; running a stop sign; or not yielding to other vehicles that had the right-of-way. Teens get better at making decisions if they have more driving practice and if they have a more detailed understanding of the rules of the road. Parents should try to spend as much time as possible driving with their teen in the car as the driver in order to help their kids get practice and get better at making decisions.
The study also addressed a major issue affecting teen safety: having passengers in the car. When a young person has passengers in the vehicle with him that are also teenagers, this can significantly increase the risk of a collision. Distraction due to talking with teen passengers was one of the two top causes of driver inattention, along with cell phone use.
Driver inattention was a factor in 58 percent of total accidents. Passengers were also present in a total of 36 percent of motor vehicle accidents involving teenage drivers. When one or more passengers was in the car at the time of a crash, it was almost always a teen. Parents or other adults were present in the car with their teens in less than five percent of the accidents where passengers were in the car. Parents should talk to their kids about the dangers of driving around with lots of friends.
Call the Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C. at 1-800-898-HAYS or visit https://www.garymartinhays.com to schedule a free consultation if you have been injured in Atlanta, Duluth, Savannah or surrounding areas of Georgia.
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