Study Backs Up Teen Driving Restrictions

By Shannon in News on Feb 18, 2007 7:47PM

We've heard tons lately concerning teens dying behind the wheel. Even one teenager dead in a traffic fatality is too many; it's practically the definition of a needless death. Secretary of State Jesse White recommended some tough improvements for teen drivers last month. Now, a new study done by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is backing him up hardcore.

According to the study, states that have the most laws concerning teen driving fare the best at keeping them alive. When states have at least five laws on the books, 16-year-old drivers are 38% less involved in fatal accidents and 40% less apt to be in an injury-causing accident. Illinois was described as "middle of the pack," with only three laws about teen driving. In those cases, 16-year-old drivers were only 11% less likely to die in fatal crashes and 19% less partial to causing injury. We're not sure how they came up with those figures; is there a state out there with no teen driving laws to which other states were compared?

The laws that can supposedly make the difference in Illinois include stricter curfews (10 p.m. on weekdays, 11 p.m. on weekends) and restricting the number of passengers under 20 to one unrelated person for the first year of having a license, not just the first six months. White will push for the additional laws later this month. It's easy to say "Yeah! Go with it!" since we already have our license, but if these rules help stop these kinds of things from happening, so be it.

Image courtesy of ten-nine.