Summer is in full swing, which means many teen drivers are on the road in Monmouth County. Whether heading out with friends or driving to and from work, young drivers are more at risk for crashing than other categories of drivers. At Escandon, Fernicola, Anderson & Covelli, we know how terrible the aftermath can be when accidents are caused by drivers who were not paying attention to the road.
If you are the parent of a teen driver, the statistics can be scary to think about. According to the AAA, 2,865 teens are killed each year and 383,000 are injured in car crashes. While you can do your part to keep your child safe by modeling good driving behaviors, many states have now also instituted a graduated driver license policy. These type of restrictive licenses aim to help teens get more experience behind the wheel before giving them full reign.
However, despite measures such as these, teens continue to crash at a higher rate than other drivers and distractions play a large part. While it was previously thought that only 14 percent of crashes involving teen drivers were caused by distraction, one study showed that the number is actually 58 percent.
In addition, while you may assume that cell phones would be the biggest cause of distraction for teens, that is actually not the case. Passengers were found to be the cause in 15 percent of distracted driving crashes, compared to only 12 percent for phones. Other forms of distraction that were found to lead to accidents include looking at something, grabbing for something and personal grooming.
Perhaps one of the best things you can do to keep your teen from being involved in a distracted driving accident is to keep the lines of communication open. For more information on dealing with a motor vehicle crash, please visit our web page.