Risk InfoCenter: Inexperienced Teen Driver Perspective
Inexperienced Teen Driver Perspective
Released March 2008
A new study completed by researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and funded by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. reveals that the three biggest risk factors contributing to motor vehicle crash fatalities for passengers between the ages of eight and 17 are riding unbuckled with new teen drivers on high-speed roads. According to the study, titled “Risk Factors for Death Among Older Child and Teenaged Motor Vehicle Passengers” (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, March 2008), an “important risk factor for all passengers is driver age, particularly newly licensed teenaged drivers.”
Risk InfoCenterTM by DriveCam is the largest knowledgebase in the world to provide insight into risky driving based on actual driving behavior. Risk InfoCenter analysis of data from teens participating in DriveCam’s new teen driver programs supports the findings of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia study. The analysis also identifies five protective driving behaviors new teen drivers can adopt to help them avoid collisions and prevent injuries.
DriveCam’s unique view into the young driver population sheds light on the reasons why they are at an increased risk for collision and the associated injury and death. Video of teens’ riskiest moments from more than four million miles traveled illustrates the behaviors that produce the risk factors while further analysis reveals that patterns of specific behaviors strongly influence a teen’s likelihood to crash.
“Our analysis reveals that teens who crash within the first few weeks of participating in our program combine inexperience with patterns of inattention, distraction and/or aggressiveness,” said Rusty Weiss, general manager of the consumer insurance division at DriveCam. “Teens in the DriveCam program who tempered their inexperience with protective driving habits were three times less likely to be involved in crashes as teens who demonstrated unsafe driving behaviors.”
Risk InfoCenter analysis reveals that the five protective behaviors and habits of the teens with the lowest crash risk and crash injury included:
- Focusing on the driving task, especially during the riskiest times.
No distractions during starts, stops, turns or in heavy or changing traffic. - Actively scanning for hazards in the traffic environment.
Too frequently, teens in crashes failed to see multiple and obvious queues that experienced drivers would have heeded. - Control of their passengers to prevent being distracted or being encouraged to drive aggressively.
Passengers are dangerous when the driver divides his attention to interact with them or when passengers promote or tolerate risk taking behaviors of the driver. - Choosing a speed appropriate for their experience and traffic situation.
Avoiding being in a rush provides the novice driver with valuable space and time to manage the unexpected. - Enforcing seatbelts for everyone all the time with no exceptions.
Young drivers must buckle up and require that all passengers buckle up too.
Weiss summarizes, “All teens are inexperienced drivers, but the adoption of protective driving habits and in-vehicle rules for occupant seatbelt compliance and appropriate behavior help mitigate the most common young driver risk factors.”