Minnesota Teen Crash Facts for 2010 (15-19 years)

• 41 teens died in traffic crashes 12 were involved in alcohol related crashes

In 2004 23% of all traffic crashes were teen deaths. In 2010 it is 18%

• Teen drivers represent 6.5% of all licensed drivers but 11.4% of crash involved drivers

• Contributing factors in teen single vehicle crashes:
  • • Speed  24.1%
    • Driver inattention 14.3%
    • Driver inexperience 13.6%
    • Overcorrection 10.5%
    • Chemical impairment 3.9%

• Contributing factors in teen multiple vehicle crashes:
  • • Driver inattention 24%
    • Failure to yield 19.9.%
    • Following to closely 11.5%
    • Speed 7.2%

• 7 percent of DWI arrests are for those under 21 that are not legal to drink. That is 2102 teens - 4 arrests were to ages 0-14, 1294 arrests to ages 15-19 and 804 arrests for 20 year olds.  This is a decrease number from 2009

• Of the 22 drivers under age 21 that were tested for alcohol after fatal crashes 6 were over .08 BAC

Minnesota crash information taken from Minnesota Crash Facts 2010

NATIONAL TEEN CRASH FACTS 2008

• Crash rates per mile driven for 16 – 19 year olds is 4 times the risk of older drivers; risk is highest at 16.

• The crash per mile driven is twice as high for 16 year olds as for age 18-19.

• A total of 4054 teenagers died on the roadways. This is 54% fewer than 1975 and 19% fewer than 2007.  2 out of 3 teenagers killed were male

63% of teenage deaths occurred in vehicles driven by another teen

• Safety belt usage among fatally injured drivers 16-19 (41%) was higher than among fatally injured drivers ages 20-29 (34%) but lower than drivers 30 and older (46%). Passenger use was lower than driver’s use.

• 49% of motor vehicle crashes of teens were single vehicle crashes than same percentage as for the 20 – 25 age group.

• August had the highest teenage crash rate (55%). Their crashes occurred on weekends and between 9 pm and midnight.

• Young drivers are less likely than adults to drive after drinking, but their crash risk is substantially higher when they do

• Fatally injured female teenage drivers were less likely than male drivers to have high BAC rates.

Information on national statistics was summarized from www.ihs.org/research/fatality_facts_2008/teenage

Contributing factors to teen driver crash rates:

Due to a combination of immaturity and inexperience, teens have a higher propensity for risk taking behaviors than do older and experienced drivers. Teen drivers are less likely to buckle up, and more likely to speed or drive too fast for prevailing conditions.

Younger drivers are frequently inexperienced in hazard recognition and often take unnecessary risk due to a combination of poor decision making and an illusion of vulnerability. Younger drivers do not always consider the consequences of their actions.

Recent research in adolescent development supports the contention that younger people are often developmentally less capable of making sound judgments and decisions regarding potentially risky behavior. Areas of the brain involved in rendering judgments and making decisions are not fully developed until around age 25.

National information taken from www.nhtsa.dot.gov