Jake Hawkes was 19 when he died in a rollover accident in Hyde Park, Cache County, on Aug. 26, 2009. Investigators later learned that he was sending or receiving a text just before the crash. "Perhaps my son is no longer alive because he was paying attention more closely to his phone than the road in front of him," said Jake's father, Chad Hawkes(Levetan [2]). This is just one example of a teen who fell victim to reckless driving out of the thousands who do every year. According to Teen Driver Source in 2013 alone 2,163 teens ages 16-19 were killed in car crashes and 243,243 were injured(Teen Driver Source [1]). Reckless driving is the act of disregarding the rules of the road often leading to crashes, injury and sometimes death and its a big problem in the U.S. Reckless driving amongst teens has become a nation-wide dilemma that kills or injures thousands of teens ages 16-19 years old. Reckless driving amongst teens is a problem that is easily preventable and it is time to fix this problem. Driving as a teen can be …show more content…
Parents often have good intentions but in many cases they don't know how to instruct their teen correctly. According George Murphy here's the good news: although we think of teens as rebelling against parental authority, in fact studies show that parents are the single most positive influence on teen driver safety [1]. Along with this, people who make policies and laws often look over this easy tactic to help change the way teens learn to drive. Psychologists often call attention to authoritative parenting in which parents make and enforce rules but are also supportive, flexible, and responsive to their teens (Strategies to Improve Safety [9]). Parents can be more worried about mastery of the mechanics of driving rather than the risk of crashing. They should be setting a good example as driving for their teen but also keep a good temper when their teen is
According to national teen driving statistics, 16-year-olds, in particular, are 3 (three) times more likely to die in a crash than the average of all drivers, and they have higher crash rates than any other age group. In 2008; 81% of teenage crash deaths were passenger vehicle occupants, 31% of teenage drivers killed had been drinking alcohol, 55% were not buckled up, and 37% of male teenage drivers involved in fatalities were speeding. Teenagers who drink and drive have a greater risk of serious crashes than older drivers with equal blood alcohol concentrations. Teens do not wear seat/safety belts as much as adults. Teens tend to take more risks due to overconfidence in their abilities. These risks include: speeding, tailgating (driving too close to the vehicle in front), running red lights, violating traffic signals and signs, illegal turns, dangerous passing, and failure to yield to pedestrians.
Just like the teenage boy that died in the wreck, most young teen drivers think they are invincible and are owners of the road which is all due to lack of maturity. The mind set of young drivers now days is “I’m too young to die”, or “it wont happen to me” and they are so blinded by the immature thinking that it gets them in trouble. Some traits generally linked with the immaturity are: chance taking, testing limits, poor-decision making, overconfidence, speeding, following to closely, and dangerous passing (Williams). When you have youthful age and immature characteristics combined the crash possibility is enlarged. The 15-16 age groups are among the most accident prone of most groups (“Don’t”), so why then would we want them behind the wheel? “Most U.S. states license at age 16, but the minimum age for a regular license is 14 in South Dakota and 15 in five other states including: Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and South Carolina”, stated Allan F. Williams. Youthful age and immature thinking is part of the reason wh...
In the 21st century, our nation is facing a major issue, causing teenagers to lose their lives at the hand of the wheel due to inexperienced driving. “Teen drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 are four times more likely than older drivers to be involved in an automobile crash,” and statistics show. Automobile accidents are the number one cause of teen deaths. Driving regulations are in high need to be changed in order for teenagers to gain more experience with driving before taking the driving test, which could help save countless adolescence’s lives.
Car crashes have been and are the number one cause of death for teens. (1) Many feel that the development of their brain is not advanced enough to handle driving. Impulse control is the last thing to develop in the teen brain and doesn’t reach maturity until their early 20’s. Irresponsibility is also a problem with teens. The CDC states that teens are more likely to drive too fast, get distracted and underestimate hazards. This is especially true of males. (1) Each year, more than 5000 teenagers die in motor vehicle accidents. The rate of motor vehicle accidents, both nonfatal and fatal for 16 year olds is almost 10 times higher then drivers 30 to 59 according to the National Highway Safety Administration.(3)
Teens need to be taught that driving is a task that is complex and demanding. Parents know how much experience a young driver has, and they know exactly how inconvenient it is when they have to drive with their teen everywhere while they have their permit. Teens tend to cause most traffic accidents in adults’ eyes. They are not experienced yet, and often fail to pay attention to others on the road. They often think of a car as being some type of toy, but they do not know how powerful it really is. The driver education programs must be strengthened in order to make sure that students really have safer habits, behind the wheel experience, and by having a better understanding of all the laws on the road.
Most if not all teens look forward to several events in their life. One of those events are getting a driver's license. This small piece of plastic is their ticket to freedom. This ticket is more than just freedom to be able to drive their friends around but also freedom from the ritual of their parents having to drive them everywhere and embarrass them in public. Also this is a freedom to the parents as well they may save more on gas from not having to drive their children around. However, some teens are not as safe as they possibly could be if they were to take a few steps to promote good driving habits. This is evident in the article “Teen Driving”, as the author gives the reader teen driving statistics, as well as explanations of programs and steps that can improve teen driving.
When a person dies in an accident or become disable because of an accident, it is not only a single life will be effected by a preventive accident, it is about the emotional connection to those life of so many life who will be suffering because of the devastating accident. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “In 2013, 2,163 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and 243,243 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.1 That means that six teens ages 16–19 died every day from motor vehicle injuries”(CDC). Today alarming numbers of teens are dying not because of drugs, not even from drinking and driving, but because of the accident which could have prevented. Today smartphone is gaining popularity on all ages, particularly among the teenagers, and these smartphone also fueled teens who were already engaging on phone while driving. Report published from American Psychological Association that, parents are having a direct role on distracting their kids while they were driving. Forty three percent of teens said that they talk to their parent while driving and another twenty six percent of teen text. ( in need intext citation )If we have so many data and research that are saying loud about the fatality number on distraction teens while driving, why parents are forcing their kids to die. According to the National Highway Traffic Administrations year 2011 report, teenager from age fifteen to nineteen years make ten percent of all drivers who involve in a fetal crash who were distracted while operation moto vehicle; most of them were using a cell phone (NHTSA 2015), we have to acknowledge the risk of our decision and that five seconds of time spending off of road to read a massage will cost a life and
With the increasing number of road accidents every year in California, the statistics have shown that almost 50% or more of the accidents happened are involved with the teenagers. The reason is very simple – rash driving, inexperienced driving, texting and driving or mere negligence. Whatever the reason may be, it is very risky to let your teenagers drive without understanding the implications of it. Hence, California State has enforced strict restrictions on the teenagers’ driving.
Engines roaring and cars flying down the highway recklessly, racing to the finish. This is a stereotyped outlook on teen drivers. This however, is not the case. Teens don’t drive to race down the road. They drive for freedom. They drive to get where they need to be on their own. The driving age should not be raised to 18 because it takes away their feeling of freedom, Denies the access to needed transportation, denies experience, It puts additional stress on parents, and they need to be learning the driving skill while they’re young.
Sixteen year olds have a higher crash rate than drivers of any other age. “ in 2011, teenagers accounted for 10 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths” (Teen Driving Statistics). For this purpose, Many states have begun to raise the age limit by imposing restrictions on sixteen years old drivers. For example, limiting the number of passengers they can carry while driving. “The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report in May 2012 that showed that the risk of 16- or 17-year old drivers being killed in a crash increases with each additional teenage passenger in the vehicle. The risk increases 44 percent with one passenger; it doubles with two passengers, and quadruples with three or more passengers. The study analyzed crash data and the number of miles driven by 16- and 17-year olds” (Teen Driving Statistics). Another example, is that many people believe that teenage drivers have a race boy/girl mentality. This mean that when any teenager gets into a vehicle of any kind they get some type of thrilled or that the driving laws do not accommodate them in any way, shape, or form. They would go drag race ...
As expected, most if not all teens will disagree with that. But there are some safe teen drivers that are thrown into the bad teen driving category just because they are a teenager that drives. If there are some good teen drivers, then do all teens really need more drivers education? Samantha Williams is a senior at Winchester Community High School that has an answer to this question. “I do consider myself to be a safe driver. I’m always aware of my surroundings when I’m driving, and I always stay away from any distractions” (Question 1). She is intentionally aware of her surroundings and stays focused while driving. The government should not make more regulations and rules for all teen drivers when there are many teen drivers like Samantha on the roads. There are even some adults that believe not all teen drivers are bad drivers. Gregory explains, “ The teen driving issues are not about age and maturity as they are about making good choices and demonstrating exceptional behavior, whether they start that driving experience at 16, 17, or 18” (1). Many teens and parents seem to think the government has not made the best decisions recently when it comes to
Driving a car and obtaining a driver’s license does perhaps seem to provide people with a great sense of independence and freedom. Teenagers need to feel independent in order to learn to become successful on their own as well as realize how to handle life situations on their own, and having a license seems the perfect start and most effective way to do so. When teenagers feel this independence they tend to act more mature, knowing the responsibilities they must now carry on their own (More4Kids). Teenagers often look forward to the freedom that driving offers as well. Teenagers are able to take drives to escape from life’s many stressed, and leave any troubles at home behind without rebelling out against their loved ones.
There are many things that happen inside and outside of the car that can distract teenage drivers. Some of these include drowsiness, what time they are driving at, driving under the influence, and passengers in the car. Drowsy driving causes 21% of fatal automobile accidents (“Statistics”). It especially occurs in teenagers because of their lack of sufficient sleeping hours due to school, homework, work, and extracurricular activities. The time teenagers are driving at can be unsafe conditions too. Fatal crashes involving 16 year olds at night is almost twice as likely than in the daytime (“Statistics”). Summer months, June and July, had the highest number of teen car crashes (“Teen Driving”). In 2012, 53% of teenage deaths from car accidents occurred on weekend nights (“Teen Driving”). So, driving at night, during the summer, or on the weekend can clearly be less safe than driving in the day, during other months, and during the week. This does make sense because teenagers aren’t driving during school hours and they aren’t usually in school during any of these considerably dangerous times. Driving while under the influence is another cause of
Many accidents are caused because teenagers are unaware of driving risks and hazardous situations. One piece of evidence that shows that teenagers need driving experience appears in the following quote, “Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate dangerous situations or not be able to recognize hazardous situations,” ("Teen Drivers: Get the Facts"). Teenagers will not have enough driving experience if the driving age is lifted. If teenagers are allowed to drive at sixteen then they will be prepared to drive later on. The longer one waits to drive, the longer it takes for them to become prepared for the risks and hazards of
Most teenagers are excited to get their license so they are able to be with their friends. They believe it is fun to have a car full of friends and drive anywhere and everywhere. However, most teenagers are not aware that three or more teen passengers quadruples a crash risk (National). When others are in the car with a driver it causes a myriad of distractions. Teenagers are subjected to peer-pressure and therefore do not make mature decisions. For example, teenagers wear seat belts less often than older drivers because of peer-pressure (Millward). The seat belt is a restriction so if an accident were to occur the outcome of it will not be as extreme with it on. Wearing a seat belt is also a law and teenagers pressure each other to break that law. The fatality rate for teenagers is 3.6 times higher than driving alone (California). Teenagers are pressured to break laws and do illegal actions while others are in t...