Driving down teen car accidents

According to the CDC, in 2018, over 2,450 teens between the ages of 13–19 were killed in car accident. Furthermore, teen drivers are more likely to be involved in the first year of getting their license to drive. There are many reasons why teens are more likely to have an accident such as inexperience, distractions, speeding, and being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. As a result of these dismal facts, it is imperative that teens receive driver’s education.

Currently, teens must take a certain number of hours of driver’s training behind the wheel with a professional. When I got my license, I had to take 10 hours of lessons with a professional and then have the experience of driving another 40 hours with a licensed adult (including night driving). My mom had an accident when she was a new driver at 16 years old due to lack of experience. However, the required hours for training were a lot less then. Data suggests that teen deaths and injuries as a result of car accidents has declined over the years under this current model of 50 hours of practice, but I think these numbers should be even lower.

I would suggest that teens have even more hours of driving with a professional be required. I do not understand why teens do not receive any training on how to handle driving emergencies. For instance, teens need to learn how to handle another car barging into their lane. Teens are not taught how to swerve and remain in control of the car (safe evasive tactics). Another situation I think teens need more experience with is how to handle other aggressive drivers. For instance, how do you handle the car when someone abruptly cuts you off in order to avoid a collision?

In order to help teens learn more skills to safely handle a car, I would suggest that there be professional training on a closed course. I live in a very dense city with lots of bad drivers, it would have been helpful to learn more driving skills that are directly related to living is such an area. The needs to teens will vary depending on their location, so having extra training to fit their needs would be beneficial to keeping us safe.

Now you might ask, what about the affordability of having teens complete more hours with a professional? I completely understand such an action may cause driver education to be inaccessible for some families. Government supplements would be useful. If you think about the amount of money spent caring for teens that are hospitalized from car accidents, it only makes sense to shift that funding into a cause that could lower the numbers of teens hospitalized from accidents.

Another suggestion would be to have all cars driven by teens be equipped with the latest in collision avoidance technology. Technology like lane assist and forward collision would be helpful. Although there is no replacement for turning and looking over your shoulder when you change lanes, sometimes teens make mistakes and these safety features could keep us safe. Furthermore, driving simulators would also be helpful and probably less expensive than actual behind the wheel trainings.

In ending, teens are at risk for injury and even death while behind the wheel of a car. Increasing driver’s education would help drive down these incidents for teens.