Underage Drinking Just One of the Many Hazards for Teen Drivers
Having just finished his annual Arrive Alive! Don’t Drink and Drive presentations to hundreds of local area high schools students, attorney Michael A. DeMayo is keenly aware of the pressures and dangers to our young people when they first hit the highways. As a personal injury attorney for over twenty years, DeMayo knows all too well that traffic accidents are currently the leading cause of death for teens not just in North Carolina but nationwide.
Young drivers age 16 to 19 of both sexes have the highest rates of crashes and traffic violations of any age group on the roads.
Aside from underage drinking and driving and simple inexperience, there are various other factors that lead to these tragic accident rates among our teens. According to DeMayo, these include:
- Low risk perception and high risk taking: Teens tend to feel invulnerable, and frequently underestimate the risk of accidents in situations that older and more experienced drivers perceive as dangerous. They have overconfidence in their driving abilities leading to risky behaviors such as speeding, making illegal turns, ignoring traffic signs and signals and not yielding to pedestrians.
- Lack of seat belt use: For various reasons, teens buckle up less often than more mature drivers. Various studies have determined that one of the reasons is “seat belts aren’t cool.”
- Carrying passengers: Teens are easily distracted by having friends in the car, particularly males. They are more likely to take risks when friends are in the car, possible also due to the wanting to look “cool” factor. Michael DeMayo reports that crash risk, along with fatality risk, increases 3.6 times for teens 16 – 17 when they drive with passengers.
- Night driving: Another area where inexperience comes into play. This has several causes, including tiredness, driving at night is simply more difficult, not to mention teen tiredness or sleep deprivation, and the fact that night driving is frequently recreational, including the use of alcohol or other recreational drugs. After 9pm, the crash rate for teenage drivers is three times higher.
- Cell phone use: Again, texting or talking on the phone while driving raises the accident risk for all age groups, however teens are even more vulnerable due to their lack of driving experience.
Although Michael A. DeMayo’s Arrive Alive public service program is specifically aimed at educating teens to make different choices about drinking and driving, he knows all these other factors play a large part in teen accidents as well. Parents can make a big difference in their teens’ lives by starting them off with great driving skills and instilling a level of respect for the dangers of the roads, along with understanding their responsibilities.
The Law Offices of Michael A. DeMayo will continue to spread the word to teens about responsible driving. For parents who would like some assistance, we have compiled the following resources:
- National Safety Council – Alive at 25 Program for Teens and Parents
- Teen Safe Driver Program – Including a Safe Driver Pledge
- Keys2Driver – AAA Teen Driver Safety Program
- NHTSA – A Comprehensive Approach to Teen Driver Safety
- Teendriving.com – Hundreds of Safe Driving Tips
