Auto accidents are the leading cause of death for teens ages 15 to 20.

When teen drivers ride with other

passengers, their risk of being in a fatal car crash doubles. Overall, teenagers underestimate or are
unable to recognize hazardous driving conditions.

Cell Phones, and Texting

- 32.8% of high school students nationwide have texted or e-mailed while driving.

- 12% of distracted drivers involved in fatal car accidents were teens ages 15 to 19.

- Talking on a cell phone can double the likelihood of an accident and can slow a young driver's
reaction time to that of a 70-year-old.

- Drivers under the age of 20 make up the largest percentage of distracted drivers.

- 56% of teens admit to talking on cell phones while driving.

13% of teens admit to texting while driving.

- 34% of teens age 16 and 17 admit that they send and respond to text messages while driving.

- 48% of kids ages 12 to 17 report being in a car when the driver was texting.

Underage Drinking & Driving Statistics

-About 1/4 of fatal teen car accidents involve underage drinking and driving. (MADD)
About 5.8% of 16- and 17-year-olds and 15.1% of 18- to 20-year-olds reported driving under the
influence of alcohol in the past year. (MADD)

-About 8.2% of high school students reported driving a car or other vehicle one or more times when
they had been drinking alcohol.

-13.5% of 12th graders reported driving after drinking.

-Kids who start drinking young are 7x more likely to be in an alcohol-related crash. (MADD)
33% of the young drivers ages 15 to 20 who were killed in crashes had a BAC of .01 or higher and 28%
had a BAC of .08 or higher (the legal limit for drivers over age 21).

-Nearly 60% of young drivers involved in fatal drinking and driving crashes didn't use a seat belt.

-70 % of young drivers who died in underage drinking and driving accidents didn't use a seat belt.

-27% of the young male drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking at the time of the crash,
compared with 15% of the young female drivers involved in fatal crashes.
2017 Teen Driver Car Accident Statistics
-17,321 teen drivers in Pennsylvania were involved in crashes
-2,526 teens were killed in crashes nationwide
-Nine percent of teenage motor accidents involved distracted driving
-In 2017, motorcycle riders aged 15-20 were killed, an 11 percent increase from 2016
-1,830 drivers aged 15-20 were killed in alcohol-related crashes
-22 percent of teen drivers were not wearing a restraint during a crash, but account for 57 percent of
fatalities

This Research Brief provides updated statistics on rates of crashes, injuries and death per mile driven in
relation to driver age based on the most recent data available, from 2014-2015. Drivers ages 16-17
continue to have the highest rates of crash involvement, injuries to themselves and others and deaths of
others in crashes in which they are involved. Drivers age 80 and older have the highest rates of driver
deaths. Drivers ages 60-69 were the safest drivers by most measures examined.

Among drivers younger than 80, rates of involvement in fatal crashes were highest among drivers ages
16-17 and lowest among drivers ages 60-69, but the degree to which rates of fatal crashes decreased
with increasing age was somewhat smaller than it was among injury crashes and among all police-
reported crashes. The fatal crash involvement rate of drivers ages 70-79 was also notably elevated
relative to that of drivers ages 30-59 and was comparable to that of drivers ages 25-29.

* Tefft, B.C. (2017). Rates of Motor Vehicle Crashes, Injuries and Deaths in Relation to Driver Age,
United States, 2014-2015. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Changing Brains Mean that Adolescents Act Differently From Adults

Pictures of the brain in action show that adolescents' brains work differently than adults when they
make decisions or solve problems. Their actions are guided more by the emotional and reactive
amygdala and less by the thoughtful, logical frontal cortex. Research has also shown that exposure to
drugs and alcohol during the teen years can change or delay these developments.

Based on the stage of their brain development, adolescents are more likely to:

 act on impulse
 misread or misinterpret social cues and emotions
 get into accidents of all kinds
 get involved in fights
 engage in dangerous or risky behavior

Adolescents are less likely to:

 think before they act

 pause to consider the consequences of their actions
 change their dangerous or inappropriate behaviors
 These brain differences don't mean that young people can't make good decisions or tell the
difference between right and wrong. It also doesn't mean that they shouldn't be held responsible
for their actions. However, an awareness of these differences can help parents, teachers,
advocates, and policy makers understand, anticipate, and manage the behavior of adolescents.