AAA Research Examines Teen Driving

Teen drivers are 50% more likely to crash in the first month of driving on their own than they are after 1 year of experience driving on their own, and are nearly twice as likely to crash as they are after 2 years of experience. That’s the key finding of a new research conducted for AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety by University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. The researchers found that three common mistakes—failure to reduce speed, inattention and failure to yield—accounted for 57% of all crashes in which teens were at least partially responsible during their first month of licensed driving.

Additionally, when researchers looked at specific types of crashes in relation to how long the driver had been licensed, they found that some types of crashes occurred at relatively high rates at first and declined particularly quickly with experience. For example, crashes involving left-hand turns were common during the first few months of driving but declined almost immediately. The high initial rate and subsequent steep decline in certain types of crashes appeared to reflect teens' initial inexperience followed by rapid learning.

To help teens improve their safety as they start driving on their own, AAA encourages parents to:

• Practice, practice, practice: Once teens have their actual license, continue to practice together to ensure that basic skills are mastered and to introduce varied driving conditions (snow, heavy traffic, rural roads) with an experienced driver in the passenger seat. 
• Keep passengers out: Teen drivers' crash risks multiply with teenage passengers in the vehicle. Set limits and enforce them consistently. 
• Limit night driving: Reduced visibility makes night driving riskier for drivers of all ages. For inexperienced teens, it's even harder. 

View video clips captured during the research here. Download the two reports summarizing the research here and here.