‘100 Deadliest Days’ campaign highlights teen driving risks
The spring to summer season of graduations and proms has historically been the trigger for teen driving hazard awareness, particularly to the dangers of drinking and driving. High school assemblies and public safety campaigns are often held in the weeks surrounding these celebrations.
A recent analysis of the teen driving crash toll, however, shows that the danger zone is much longer than the close of the school year.
The American Automobile Association now refers to the “100 Deadliest Days” as the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day when fatal crashes involving teen drivers increase.
Nationwide, more than
7,000 people died in crashes involving teen drivers from 2010 to 2019 during that time period. Last year, there were fewer teen drivers on the road due to COVID restrictions, but data gathered by AAA showed that while crashes involving teen drivers were down 60% during the summer of 2020, fatalities in those crashes only decreased by 21%.
Fewer teens were on the road, but driving risk was still high.
“There are more daily deaths in crashes involving teen drivers during the summer months than the rest of the year because teens tend to have more unstructured time behind the wheel,” says Theresa Podguski, director of Legislative Affairs for AAA East Central.
AAA chapters across the nation are waging a public awareness campaign about the summer danger as it relates to teen driving. According to the campaign, statistics show that for every mile driven, new teen drivers ages 16-17 years old are three times more likely to be involved in a deadly crash compared to adults. This is largely due to their inexperience and their likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention transportation safety division reinforces those statistics:
• In 2019, almost 2,400 teens in the United States aged 13–19 were killed, and about 258,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes, according to CDC.
• The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among teens aged 16–19 than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers in this age group are nearly three times as likely as drivers aged 20 or older to be in a fatal crash.
• The presence of teen passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers. This risk increases with each additional teen passenger.
• Crash risk is particularly high during the first months of licensure. Data from the 2016–2017 National Household Travel Survey indicate that the crash rate per mile driven is about 1.5 times as high for 16-year-olds as it is for 18–19-year-olds.
As teens venture back to normalcy along with everyone else, two factors may influence safety: less practice time driving during the stay-home orders of the past year, and less focus on safe driving in the newfound enthusiasm for getting back to work, sports and social events.
According to the AAA Foundation Traffic Safety Culture Index, about 72% of teen drivers aged 16-18 admitted to having engaged in at least one of the following risky behaviors in the past 30 days:
• driving 10 mph over the speed limit on a residential street (47%)
• driving 15 mph over the speed limit on a highway (40%)
• texting (35%)
• red-light running (32%)
• aggressive driving (31%)
• drowsy driving (25%)
• driving without a seatbelt (17%)
AAA’s “100 Deadliest Days” campaign aims to remind parents that teens need information and examples that reinforce the importance of avoiding distractions.
A year ago, teens lost out on many of their rites of passage including proms graduations, sports playoffs, award nights, and theater and music productions. Many may have also put off getting a driver’s license.
This year offers a return to the joys of shared celebration — and a warning. The “100 Deadliest Days” campaign is no joke. Teens need more practice, more guidance and more training to avoid risk as they return to driving. Adults need to be mindful of the dangers and keep our children safe.