Stop to mark National Teen Driver Safety Week October 20-26

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DES MOINES, Iowa — National Teen Driver Safety Week will be marked Oct. 20-26, and during that week — and every week — parents should have conversations with their teens about the important rules they need to follow to stay safe behind the wheel.

Safe-driving rules address the greatest dangers for teen drivers: alcohol, inconsistent or no seat belt use, distracted and drowsy driving, speeding and the number of passengers.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens — age 15 to 18 — in the U.S., ahead of all other types of injury, disease or violence. In 2017 there were 2,247 people killed in crashes involving a teen driver, of which 755 deaths were the teen driver. This was a 3 percent increase from 2016.

Alcohol and drugs: All teens are too young to legally buy, possess or consume alcohol. However, nationally in 2017, 15 percent of teen drivers involved in fatal crashes had alcohol in their system.

And alcohol isn’t the only substance that can keep teens from driving safely. According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.5 percent of adolescents 12 to 17 years old reported using marijuana. Like other drugs, marijuana affects drivers’ ability to react to their surroundings. Remind teens that driving under the influence of any impairing substance could have deadly consequences.

Seat belts: Wearing a seat belt is one of the simplest ways for teens to stay safe in a vehicle. A total of 539 passengers died in passenger vehicles driven by teen drivers, and 60 percent of those passengers who died were not buckled up at the time of the fatal crash. Even more troubling, in 87 percent of cases in which the teen driver was unbuckled, the passengers were also unbuckled. The chances of surviving a traffic crash are 45 percent higher when properly restrained in a seat belt.

Distracted driving: Distractions while driving are more than just risky. They can be deadly. Among teen drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2017, 9 percent were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. The use of mobile devices while driving is a big problem, but there are other causes of teen distracted driving that pose dangers as well, including adjusting the radio, applying makeup, eating and drinking or distractions from other passengers in the vehicle.

Speeding: In 2017 more than one-quarter — 27 percent — of all teen passenger vehicle drivers involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crash, and males were more likely to be involved in fatal crashes than females.

Passengers: Teen drivers transporting passengers can lead to disastrous results. Research shows the risk of a fatal crash goes up in direct relation to the number of passengers in a car. The likelihood of teen drivers engaging in risky behavior triples when traveling with multiple passengers.

Drowsy driving: Teens are busier than ever with studying, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs and spending time with friends — among the long list of things that fill their time. However, with all of these activities, teens tend to compromise something very important: sleep. This is a dangerous habit that can lead to drowsy driving or falling asleep at the wheel.

In 2018 Iowa lost 29 young drivers between the ages of 14 and 20 in motor vehicle crashes. Four of those drivers had a blood alcohol over the legal limit, and nine of the young people were unbelted.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety and the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau encourage you to talk to your teen drivers about safe driving practices. Losing even one is one too many, don’t you think?

Statistics in this article were provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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