Introduction:
Throughout Semester 2, the year 12 Health Education class has focused on Road Trauma and Young Motorists. This included an investigation into the developmental and behavioural factors that separate this age group from others, and how these factors have led to an increased rate of injury and death amongst this specific population when compared to the general population and their driving habits and injury rates. Defining the Issue:
Road trauma among young drivers is typically associated with the implications that come with being in a minor or major accident, which either leads to car damage to either party, injury to either party or death to either or both parties.Young adults account for a quarter of all deaths on Australian
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From 2004 to 2013, total driver fatalities dropped from 145 to 78, which is a larger decrease in fatalities. 28% of the road toll in 2004 was young drivers, down to 18.8% in 2013. With the implementation of logbooks, time of days restrictions, age and practises to improve experience have seen the safety of young drivers rise and prevent more unnecessary fatalities. 2013 had a higher amount of hospitalisations than 2011 for young drivers though with 2366 young drivers being hospitalised after an accident, whether as a rider or driver, whereas 2011 has 2209 hospitalisations. This is 157 more people being in an accident, which shows that the drivers are either becoming careless or not taking enough precaution with those around them or their environment. The Health Education class conducted a survey of p-platers in the school and the results show that the girls are more likely to take part in risk taking behaviours by habit. 65.8% of St Margaret Mary’s P-platers have been tempted to use their phones while driving, while 44.4% say that they sometimes speed while driving. In 2004, 69 young drivers died on Queensland roads between 6pm-6am, whereas this has improved as the night driving restrictions down to 24 young drivers out of 49 in 2011. No information is available for the succeeding years. This rate has come down drastically from before to after the laws had been implemented for 4 years. In 2006, 20% of young motorists aged 0-25 died on Queensland roads. Since 2007, it is required that learner drivers log their required 100 hours into a government issued logbook. This enables young learner drivers to gain experience on the road, with a wide range of driving conditions. Inexperience accounted for 925 crashes in 2004, whereas in 2013, it
Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...
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...
Irvine; Gregory.... ... middle of paper ... ... Works Cited CDC - Injury - Teen Drivers: Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Society gives out travesty on how wealth correlates with success and happiness, which forces individuals to accomplish foolish and malevolent acts in order to gain a dissolution of happiness in wealth. During Huck Finn’s journey, he meets two hooligans who call themselves the Duke and the King; the Duke and the King lie to and steal from innocent villagers and “played this town for all they’re worth” in order to achieve monetary value (Twain 188). Without excessive wealth, individuals believe they do not have any value in the world. Once people would reach their goal of making a particular amount of money, and they would then strive for more. However, individuals’ means to reach their monetary goals would refer to malevolent actions, including
Each year numerous lives are lost due to careless and irrational driving. The disregard for safe driving has been a predicament to Queensland for years. For many years? police have relied heavily on speed cameras, breathe testing and heavy fines as a deterrent against unlawful drivers. Over the years fatality rates have increased, so Queensland Transport has composed a series of safe driving campaigns. On many occasions the transport department informs and advises the public about the importance of responsible driving. They propagate safe driving through the various channels of the media. Their safe driving campaign is now using effective propaganda aimed directly at speeding; drink driving and tired and reckless driving
According to the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, "automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for those aged 3 to 33, with 43,005 (118 per day) Americans killed in 2002 alone" (Clayton, Helms, Simpson, 2006). Worldwide, vehicle accidents consist of 1.2 millions deaths per year, "behind only childhood infections and AIDS as cause of death amount people aged 5 to 30 years old" (Clayton., 2006). The annual cost of road accidents is estimated about $518 billion"(Factor, Yair, Mahalel, 2013). The fact alone of being in a moving, heavy vehicle is a danger in itself but individuals that do not wear their seat belts, talk on the phone, text, and do other distracting behavior also put themselves in even more harmful situations.
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. People, like Brittany Leedham was fortuitous to survive from a teen car accident, but others like her boyfriend Zak Kerinuk was not able to come out of the crash alive.
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)
Every person who has gets behind the wheel of a motor vehicle will be involved in some sort of automobile collision at some point in his or her lifetime. Traffic accidents account for over twenty thousand deaths each year and more than ten times as many injuries. There are a number of factors that contribute to these types of collisions, however, new and evolving laws can account for a large portion of successful preventable measures. In order for laws to be changed or added for the purpose of safer roads and highways, lawmakers have to first look at what factors contribute to such unsafe conditions. The top five causes of automobile accidents that cause injury are distracted drivers, driver fatigue, drunk driving, speeding, and aggressive driving. Laws can be proposed to reduce and even eliminate each of these risks.
Again, it makes the headlines; an older driver causes a dangerous automobile crash. As the amount of elderly driving has increased in the past decade, the risk for others to be out on the road has increased. In 2012, there were 36 million licensed older drivers in the United States. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)) As a 34% increase from 1999, it has been noted that seniors are driving past their ability by an average of 10 years. (Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation (US)). Elderly continue to drive despite the prominent physiological changes that worsen as they age. The amount of automobile collisions suggests that prevention must occur in order to make the roads safer. By examining older drivers’ medical complications, older drivers must be retested to be able to drive a vehicle.
The biggest problem with drunk driving by young adults is the high rate of traffic accidents. Although young drivers ages 16 through 25 makeup only 15% of U.S. licensed drivers, they constitute 30 percent of all alcohol-related driving fatalities. This is double the amount of licensed drivers in that age group. Inexperience with both drinking and driving may contribute to this disproportionate rate. Nationwide in 1996, people ages 15 to 24 died in fatal motor vehicle crashes and 45 percent of those deaths were a result of alcohol (NHTSA 4). So it comes to no surprise that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people younger than 25 (NCHS 98).
According to Anne Fleming, a Spokeswoman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, "Immaturity and inexperience both contribute to crashes. It's hard to untangle the two…Raising the age from 16 to 17 saves lives in crashes. Raising it to 18 saves even more lives"(ProQuest). It is believed that the human brain is nearly 95 percent developed by the age of six. Neural connections are being made incredibly quick during a child’s first few years. However, this does not take into account a second period of maturing the brain goes through that lasts until the age of 21. The second growth in the brain accounts for important skills like decision making and risk assessment (Triplett). These two skills are essential to operating a motor vehicle. Teenagers at 16 years old are three times more likely to be involved in an accident than teenagers at 19 (Triplett). Experts believe that t...
Teenagers are getting back on the roads and behind the wheel, meaning the risk of accidents is higher. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year olds. Automakers are creating ways to make their automobiles safer in order to reduce these deaths. Teenage drivers are inexperienced and need the extra protection to keep them safe if an incident were to occur. Automobile safety features are necessary for the teenage driver to stay protected and alert.
“Young Drivers More Prone to Car Crashes Due to Their Underdeveloped Brains” 29 Apr 2010:
Richard Petty once said “You’ll got home safe, so drive safe, and stay safe.” Being a racing legend, he is an advocate for safe driving to minimise the cases of road crushes that have been on the rise. He double up as the chairman of the Veterans’ Safe Driving Initiative, the initiative is aimed at guiding the veterans returning from deployment on safe driving tips. It is necessarily important since the infrastructure has changed over time. Another initiative is being run in Minnesota where the teens are guided on the important safe driving tips. Study shows that more crushes are likely to occur in teen driving than veteran driving. It is also evident that young drivers are more likely to cause a crush within six months of passing the driving test and young male are worse than the females in the field.