During the summer, more teenage drivers are out of the classroom and traveling Texas and the nation’s roadways, and this means enhanced dangers for everyone out there with them. Teenage drivers do not have the behind-the-wheel experience of older motorists, and this means they are less likely to know what to do to avoid a crash. Teen-driver-involved crashes are especially common during the stretch of time that occurs each year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and so much so that many now refer to this period as summer’s “100 Deadliest Days.”
Per KWTZ, almost 3,500 people lost their lives in crashes during 100 Deadliest Days spans over the past five years. Many of these fatal crashes shared similar factors in common. Common factors in summer crashes involving teenage drivers include the following.
Teenage passengers
Other teenage passengers create huge safety risks for teenage drivers. When a teen driver has another teen in the vehicle, that teen’s presence makes the teen driver 2.5 times as likely to engage in dangerous behind-the-wheel behaviors. When a teen driver has more than one teen passenger along for the ride, the risks compound even further.
Cellphone use
It is no secret that in-vehicle cellphone use is problematic among teenagers and that many teenage drivers ignore laws banning handheld cellphones. Yet, cellphones present a grave danger, not only for teen drivers but for everyone they encounter. Studies show that drivers are six times more likely to crash when dialing a phone behind the wheel and 23 times more likely to crash when they text behind the wheel.
Other common factors in teen-involved car wrecks include alcohol or drug use and motorists driving while drowsy or fatigued.