National Safe Teen Driving Week set

Teenage drivers continue to be one of the most at-risk groups on Ohio’s roadways.

Between 2015 and 2017, teen drivers in Ohio were involved in 135,882 traffic crashes.

“An action on the part of the teen driver contributed to 15 percent of these crashes,” an OHP news release stated.

OHP records show that crashes where teen drivers were at fault resulted in 285 fatalities and 41,917 injuries during the twoyear reporting period. This represents 8 percent of the people killed and 13 percent of the people injured in crashes in Ohio between 2015 and 2017.

During that same time period there were 7,586 at-fault teen crashes in Cuyahoga County, 830 in Geauga, 1,967 in Lake and 2,302 in Lorain.

Of the teen-involved crashes, 36 percent were caused by teen drivers following too closely, while 21 percent were the result of failure to yield/ran red light or stop sign.

Male teenage drivers are more likely be at fault in crashes than female teen drivers — 55 percent of males versus 45 percent of females at fault.

“Poor decisions while driving can stay with teens for the rest of their lives,” said OHP Lt. Larry Robert, the commander of the Chardon Post. “That is why responsibility, awareness and safety are so important for our youngest drivers.”

National Teen Driver Safety Week runs Oct. 21-27 and seeks to have parents discuss responsible driving habits with their teens.

According to the United States Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Marketing, parents should not only have a conversation with their teen drivers about the rules to stay safe while driving during Safe Teen Driving week but every week.

These should include addressing the greatest dangers for teen drivers: alcohol, inconsistent or no seat belt use, distracted and drowsy driving, speeding, and number of passengers.

The National Safety Council offers tips for parents on how to encourage safe driving by teens.

One of the suggestions they offer is to draw up a parent-teen driver agreement. This is a contract that spells out hours the teen may drive, who pays for the gas and insurance, rules for major driving distractions such as passengers and anything else the parent wants to include.

Other tips include parents making time to practice driving with their teens, and for teen drivers to utilize, don’t depend on technology such as driving monitoring apps.