Inexperience Counts Where Conditions Fails!

Inexperience and immaturity show up to be the main reasons among human factors that are responsible for road accidents. As discussed earlier inexperienced an immature drivers tend to drive fast, drive without care for rules or concern for other road users, are impatient and intolerant on road, aggressive and exhibit road rage and disregard for traffic rules. Often they have no fear and show no concern for safety. They tend to succumb to peer pressure and drive rashly and at extreme speeds unmindful of possible consequences.

• 14% of all deaths due to motor vehicle accidents are teen drivers

• Most teen driver deaths due to motor vehicle accidents occur on weekends 53% of the time

• Teen drivers killed in motor vehicle accidents had a youth passenger in automobile 45% of the time

• Of teen drivers fatally injured in automobiles, more than 1/3 were speed related accidents

• Teen lifestyle of staying up late make teen drivers a high risk to have an automobile accident due to drowsiness

• More than any age group, teens are likely to be involved in a single vehicle crash

• On the basis of current population trends, there will be 23% more 16-20- year-old drivers on the road in 2010 than there are today -- 26.1 million

• This age group makes up 7% of licensed drivers, but suffers 14% of fatalities and 20% of all reported accidents

• The 16-year-old population alone will increase from 3.5 million to over 4 million by 2010

Many factors contribute to the cause of teen deaths in motor vehicles. Teen drivers are more involved in accidents than older people as statistics pointing to high rates of teen accidents involving one vehicle.

Immaturity is a contributing factor to the high rate of auto crashes and deaths among teenagers. For instance, tailgating and not using safety belts are violations prevalent more among young drivers than older drivers.

Incidentally to make matters worse most teenagers normally drive small vehicles. In view of their dependence on parents for financial support, mostly being under studentship and non employed status they are normally is possession of small cars and lower end models. These cars may not be the best when it comes to safety and accident impact minimization. Automobile crash and fatality statistics point to small vehicles not protecting passengers as well as mid-size or large vehicles in front end crashes.

In summary it can be said that the problem teenagers face as new drivers is lack of driving skill and insufficient experience behind-the-wheel. Collectively they account for the teenagers' alarming accident and fatality rates.

Though some fatality statistics on teen drivers reported teen driving deaths in automobile accidents lower than previous years, a dark cloud still appears on the horizon as overall teen driver fatalities in automobile accidents are still looming large.

Baby boomer children are now of driving age, which means large numbers of teens are old enough to drive. Experts say death and accident rates among teens are expected to rise as the younger group swells in numbers.

A teen driving statistical pattern that continues unchanged is that more male teen drivers were involved in automobile accidents than females. Though female teen driver death rates in automobiles were lower than male teen drivers, the fatality rate among female teen drivers in automobiles continued to be higher than older females.

Teen driving statistics on teenage males, and females, confirm 16 and 17 year olds to be high risk drivers. The time-of-day teenage drivers drove automobiles was also noteworthy. Teen drivers' accident and fatality rates in automobiles increased after 10 p.m. as well as after 6 a.m. Percent of accidents in both time slots were almost identical.

Finally, teenagers' automobile accident and death rates on weekends were higher than older drivers. Many reasons contributed to teen drivers' high accident and fatality rates in automobiles. Immaturity, lack of experience and peer pressure drive many a young driver to accidents.