Govenors Highway Safety Data shows Increase in Teen-Drivers Fatalities

The number of 16- and 17- year old driver deaths in passenger vehicles increased slightly for the first six months of 2011 based on preliminary data released today in a report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). 

Overall, 16- and 17-year old driver deaths increased from 190 to 211, an 11 percent increase.  If the trend continued for the second half of 2011, it will mark the end of eight consecutive years of cumulative declines in deaths for this age group.

In Pennsylvania, there were ten 16- to 17-year old driver deaths reported for the first six months of 2011 compared to eight fatalities for the same six-month period in 2010.

“The rise in teen driver deaths for the first six months of 2011 is discouraging news, and we hope the trend does not hold up for the year as a whole,” commented Jenny M. Robinson, Manager of Public and Government Affairs at AAA Mid-Atlantic. 

For the full year of 2010, teen driver fatalities rose to 57 in Pennsylvania, compared to 40 teen driver fatalities in the state in 2009. 

While the news is not good so far for 2011, there may be hope for improvement in 2012 with Pennsylvania’s new teen driver law, which took effect Dec. 27. 

The new law limits teen drivers to a single non-family passenger during the first six months of driving, increases the requirement for teen drivers to have 65 hours behind-the-wheel, from the 50 hours under the current law, and the requirement for teen drivers and passengers under 18 to wear seat belts becomes a primary offense. 

Ten of the 65 hours must be at night and at least five must be in inclement weather.

AAA has been a leading advocate in teen driver safety for over 75 years, and worked in support of the Junior Driver Law (House Bill 9), which was sponsored by Rep. Kathy Watson, (R-Bucks/144^th). 

Two factors appear to be contributing to the uptick in teen driver deaths: 

1) The positive effects of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws and law upgrades that went into effect since 1999 in PA may be leveling off, since most of these laws have been in place for some time. 

2) Improved personal economic conditions are perhaps contributing to more teens on the road compared to the 2008 and 2009 economic downturn which appears to have kept teens off the road most likely for financial reasons.

AAA offers online tools and information to help parents work with their teen drivers in learning to drive and staying safe on the road.  The motor club’s Web site, www.aaa.com/teendriving, helps parents and teens manage the complex learning-to-drive process by providing them with state-specific information that they need based on the teen’s progress toward licensure. 

The site features AAA StartSmart, a series of online lessons and newsletters based on the National Institutes of Health’s Checkpoints program, which has been proven to help parents improve teen driver safety and is being offered nationally for the first time. 

The site also offers an online version of AAA’s Dare To Prepare workshop and lessons from the motor club’s Teaching Your Teen To Drive program, both of which assist families that are or soon will be learning to drive.