Night time is the wrong time for teen drivers.
The Texas Transportation Institute’s “Teens in the Driver’s Seat” center has released the results of 10-year study of highway fatalities, which shows that the percentage of night time fatalities has increased for teen drivers during the last decade. A combination of cell phone use, darkness and inexperience is particularly deadly for teenage drivers.
More teenagers die as the result of car crashes than from any other cause. Moreover, while car crashes account for 2% of all deaths nationwide, they account for 43% of teen deaths. It is estimated that the economic cost across the United States exceeds $41 billion each year.
The death toll for teens in Texas is more than 500 each year, according to TTI. (Each day in this country, 11 teens die in car crashes.) The vast majority of these crashes are attributable to a combination of driver inexperience, coupled with one or more of the five major risks facing teen drivers – driving at night, distractions such as cell phones and other young passengers, speeding, not using seat belts, and drinking and driving
“Among drivers 20 and older, alcohol was a clear culprit in the proportional increase in night time deaths, said Bernie Fette of TTI. “ Not so with teenagers, among whom there was a greater increase but no corresponding jump in deaths that could be attributed to drunken driving.”
TTI research shows that 80% of teens know about the dangers of drinking and driving. Only 3% are aware of the risk of night time driving. Driving at night is the single biggest risk factor for teen car crash fatalities.
“Night time fatigue can contribute to impairment that is similar to being intoxicated,” said Fette. “We have a test to see whether someone’s been drinking, but there is no test to see whether you’ve been on your cellphone. Because teenagers have grown up with these devices in their hands, they feel a comfort level and a very false sense of security,” Fette concluded.
To address this growing crisis, the Texas Transportation Institute has developed a peer-to-peer driving safety program unlike any safety program in Texas or the nation. Teens in the Driver Seat (TDS) relies upon young drivers themselves to create safety messages and then serve as the messengers to make their peers aware of the risks of teen driving.
The Texas Transportation Institute conducts research in all modes of transportation. For more than 50 years, TTI researchers have created a vast array of innovations, from chemical compounds that produce longer-lasting pavements, to software applications that make roadway networks operate more efficiently. TTI has tested and developed roadside features that are credited with saving thousands of lives on highways across Texas and around the world