ABUSE MAGAZINE
Top
10 Mistakes
By Staff, Cars.com
It’s no secret that teen drivers are at greater risk for accidents than older adults — four times greater, according to the Insurance Institute
for Highway Safety. Chalk it up to a number of factors, among them inexperience dealing with emergency situations, distracted driving and the
inclination to show off to friends.
1. Being Distracted Behind
the Wheel
Cellphones, CDs, food and text messages can pose serious distractions to
drivers. In some cases, drivers will even
text their backseat passengers!
These are all too common for teens and
even parents are guilty of these distractions
while on the roadways. Common sense!
Please use it!
Surveys showed nearly 5,500 vehicular-related deaths can be attributed to distracted driving, such as texting, according
to a 2009 study by the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration.
In a survey of 2,000 drivers ages 16 to 19,
AAA and Seventeen Magazine found that 86%
of those surveyed drove distracted. These
two surveys showed teen drivers engaged in
most distractive driving statistics, with 73%
of teens are guilty of adjusting the radio
and 61% of teens are eating while driving.
Still, 60% talk on a cellphone while driving,
which many studies suggest is a distraction
whether you’re using a handset or a handsfree device.
2. Taking Too Many Risks
Do not ignore traffic signals or school
zone signs, and do not change lanes without
checking your blind spots before moving
your vehicle.
Researchers found that when confronted
with risky choices, teen brains exhibit twice
as much activity in the impulse area as
adult brains, and the area that expresses
restraint lags behind. It takes until the
early 20s for the two areas to reach parity,
the study said.
3. Speeding
Most drivers occasionally speed, but
teens do so because they don’t have a good
sense of how a car’s speed can affect their
response time.
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They will exceed speeds on residential
roads that they interpret as empty because
they haven’t had close calls or someone
coming out into the road.
Studies show that teens drive an average
of 1.3 mph faster than all drivers as a
whole. NHTSA reported in 2008 that 37% of
fatal crashes with 15- to 20-year-old males
at the wheel involved speeding.
4. Overcrowding the Car
Teens frequently overcrowd their cars,
cramming five or six into a cabin meant
to seat four or five. Worse yet, the extra
passengers often result in teens driving
more aggressively. The NIH study found
that when accompanied by male passengers
in the front seat, teens of both genders
speed more and leave shorter following distances; a quarter of the drivers in the study
broke the speed limit by 15 mph or more.
Researchers confirmed the same trend for
teenage girls driving with other girls, but
teenage boys drove less aggressively when
girls rode up front.
| North Dakota Spring/Summer 2014 | abusemagazine.org
The distractions of carrying too many
passengers can have serious consequences.
Carrying two or more peer passengers more
than triples the risk of a fatal crash with
a teen at the wheel, according to a 2008
study that appeared in the Archives of Pediatric Medicine.
5. Driving Under the
Influence
An annual study by the University of
Michigan and NIDA reported that 43% of
the teens surveyed said they drank alcohol
in the past month. When teens drink and
drive, they’re even less likely to practice
safe habits like wearing a seat belt: Of the
15- to 20-year-olds killed after drinking and
driving in 2003, 74% were unrestrained,
according to NHTSA.
This is a huge problem! Because new
drivers are too young to drink legally.
They’re also less likely to call their parents
to come and get them. It’s more likely for
a 22-year-old to call their parents and tell
them to pick them up.
Source: www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.
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