Muskego Teens the Focus of Safety

A recent rollover crash involving two Muskego teens underlined a scary statistic: Teen drivers are involved in fatal crashes at four times the rate of adult drivers, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). They explained in a release that the reasons why teens continue to be killed and injured in traffic crashes at an alarming rate are no mystery.

“Teens are more likely to crash because they are less experienced drivers,” says State Patrol Maj. Sandra Huxtable, director of the WisDOT Bureau of Transportation Safety. “They also tend to speed, drive aggressively, and take other dangerous risks such as texting while driving. Young people also are killed in traffic crashes at far higher rates than other age groups because they are the least likely to buckle up.”

Nationally, about half of the teens who die in crashes each year are passengers. A major focus of National Teen Driver Safety Week is to urge teenage passengers to make sensible decisions such as not riding with inexperienced drivers, not distracting the driver, and always wearing a safety belt.

Lt. Andrew Kraus of the Muskego Police Department said the facts apply for Muskego teens as well, stating "I haven’t seen any evidence to show that locally teen drivers differ from those in other parts of the state."

"Our patrol officers actively enforce the license restrictions placed on teen drivers by the State of Wisconsin," he added.  "The first violation results in a citation and the driver is not allowed to leave the scene until they are in compliance with the number of passengers in the car, or a driver without restrictions is found that can legally operate the vehicle.  A second violation is a criminal traffic charge, with the case being referred to the District Attorney."

Traffic safety officials stress that the risk of a crash increases significantly when teen drivers have multiple teen passengers in their vehicle. The risk of a fatal crash for a teen driver doubles with just one teen passenger and is four to five times higher with three or more teen passengers, according to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, a sponsor of the “Ride Like A Friend” campaign during National Teen Driver Safety Week.

“Inexperienced teen drivers can be easily distracted by teen passengers when they make a lot of noise, move around suddenly, or urge the driver to speed or drive recklessly,” Major Huxtable says. “To help prevent these dangerous situations, Wisconsin has a graduated driver license requirement for new drivers under age 18 that helps them gain valuable experience behind the wheel while limiting the number of teen passengers in their vehicles.”

WisDOT also offers a parent and teen driving contract that helps establish rules and consequences for a teen’s driving behavior. 

The release also stresses that "parents must set a good example for safe driving behavior by obeying traffic laws—especially speed limits—buckling up, and eliminating distractions behind the wheel."