In 2006, 5,156 teenagers died in the United States from crash injuries. Such injuries are by far the leading public health problem among people 13-19 years old. In 2005, the latest year for which data are available, 36 percent of all deaths among 16-19 year-olds from all causes were related to motor vehicles. The crash risk among teenage drivers is particularly high during the first months of licensure.¹

Teenage drivers have very high rates of both fatal and nonfatal crashes compared with adult drivers. Teenagers drive less than all but the oldest people, but their numbers of crashes and crash deaths are disproportionately high. Based on crashes of all severities, the crash rate per mile driven for 16-19 year-olds is 4 times the risk for drivers 20 and older. Risk is highest at age 16. The crash rate per mile driven is nearly twice as high for 16 year-olds as it is for 18-19 year-olds.² The rate of deaths per 100,000 people in 2006 peaked at ages 18-19 for male drivers (25 per 100,000) and at age 18 for male passengers (12 per 100,000). Death rates peaked at age 18 for female drivers (10 per 100,000) and at age 16 and age 18 for female passengers (8 per 100,000).

Many teenagers die as passengers in motor vehicle crashes. Sixty-one percent of teenage passenger deaths in 2006 occurred in vehicles driven by another teenager. Among deaths of passengers of all ages, 20 percent occurred when a teenager was driving.

A 2007 Highway Loss Data Institute study reported that overall collision (vehicle damage) losses for vehicles insured for teenagers to drive are more than double those for vehicles insured for use by adults only.³

Elderly drivers, like teen drivers, have elevated crash rates per mile driven, especially for fatal crashes. However, compared to teens, elderly drivers have much lower crash rates per capita. Relatively few elderly drivers are involved in crashes, despite their high risk of crashing per mile driven, because of their lower rates of exposure. The rate of licensure is lower among the elderly than among younger people, and elderly people with licenses drive fewer miles, on average, than do younger drivers.²

Analyses of fatal crash data indicate that teenage drivers are more likely to be at fault in their crashes. Teenagers' crashes and violations are more likely to involve speeding than those of older drivers, and teenagers are more likely than drivers of other ages to be in single-vehicle fatal crashes. Plus teenagers do more of their driving in small and older cars⁴ and at night, compared with adults. In 2006, 19 percent of teenagers' fatalities occurred between 9 pm and midnight, and 24 percent occurred between midnight and 6 am. Fifty-four percent of teenagers' fatalities occurred on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

For 16 year-olds, all these problems are heightened. The combination of inexperience behind the wheel and immaturity produces a pattern of fatal crashes among 16 year-olds that includes the highest percentage of crashes involving speeding, the highest percentage of single-vehicle crashes, and the highest percentage of crashes with driver error.

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Crash rates for young drivers are high largely because of their immaturity combined with driving inexperience. The immaturity is apparent in young drivers' risky driving practices such as speeding. At the same time, teenagers' lack of experience behind the wheel makes it difficult for them to recognize and respond to hazards. They get in trouble trying to handle unusual driving situations, even small emergencies, and these situations turn disastrous more often than when older people drive.

The number of teenagers (ages 13-19) who died in motor vehicle crashes was 8,748 in 1975 and 5,156 in 2006, a decline of 41 percent. Most of the decline occurred between 1975 and 1992, when teenage crash deaths were 5,215. Between 1996 and 2006, teenage crash deaths declined by 11 percent (from 5,819 to 5,156).

Between 1975 and 2006 the rate of crash deaths per 100,000 people declined by 41 percent for teenagers (from 29 to 17 per 100,000). In contrast, the death rate declined by 66 percent for people 12 and younger (from 8 to 3 per 100,000), 27 percent for people ages 20-69 (from 22 to 16 per 100,000), and 34 percent for people 70 and older (from 26 to 17 per 100,000). Between 1996 and 2006 the per capita crash death rate for teenagers declined by 22 percent (from 22 to 17 per 100,000).

A study by the Institute found that the most progress in teenage crash reductions has been made among 16 year-old drivers. Between 1996 and 2005 both fatal and police-reported crashes per population fell about 40 percent for 16 year-olds, about 25 percent for 17 year-olds, and about 15-19 percent for 18 year-olds. Nighttime fatal crashes per population among 16-year-old drivers fell 48 percent between 1996 and 2005. This compares with a 40 percent decline in daytime fatal crashes. Nighttime police-reported crashes per population declined, too. Rates fell 47 percent for 16-year-old drivers and 29 percent for 17 year-olds.⁵

Traditionally, states have required beginning teenage drivers to acquire very little experience before obtaining licenses that let them drive when and where they want. In 1995, only 29 states and the District of Columbia required a learner's permit, and only 11 required the permit to be held for a minimum period ranging from 14 to 90 days.⁶ Today, as graduated driver licensing programs are being implemented, the picture has changed. Almost all states now have a three-stage licensing system for young drivers.

See licensing systems for young drivers for more details

Yes. Young drivers are less likely than adults to drive after drinking alcohol, but their crash risk is substantially higher when they do. This is especially true at low and moderate blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) and is thought to result from teenagers' relative inexperience with drinking, with driving, and with combining the two.⁷ Among fatally injured teenage passenger vehicle drivers (16-19 years old), 27 percent of males and 15 percent of females in 2006 had high BACs (0.08 percent or higher), even though every state has a legal minimum alcohol purchasing age of 21 and a zero BAC threshold for teenage drivers. The percentage with high BACs was lower among 16-17-year-old drivers (18 percent) than among 18-19-year-old drivers (27 percent). But progress is being made. An Institute study found that the proportion of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers with positive BACs fell by 15 percent for 16 year-olds and 5-9 percent for 17-19 year-olds from 1996 to 2005.⁵

During the 1980s, many states raised their minimum alcohol purchasing ages from 18 or 19 years old to 21. All states now have a minimum purchasing age of 21, which has been successful in reducing alcohol-related crashes among teenagers.^8,9,10 However, enforcement is needed to make these laws even more effective. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have zero BAC thresholds for teenage drivers, prompted by federal legislation that took effect October 1, 1998. Research from 20 states and Washington, DC, indicates a reduction in teenagers' nighttime fatal crashes.¹¹

The most effective policies limit teenagers' driving exposure — for example, night driving and passenger restrictions for beginning drivers and higher ages for initial licensure.¹² General curfews that apply to all late-night activities for 13-17 year-olds also reduce crashes and crash injuries.¹³ Graduated licensing, designed to provide beginning drivers with an opportunity to gain experience behind the wheel under conditions that minimize risk, was introduced in New Zealand in 1987. Beginning with Florida in 1996, almost all US states have introduced elements of graduated licensing. Evaluations of graduated licensing systems in the US and Canada have shown they reduce crashes substantially.¹⁴

Formal evaluations¹⁵ of US high school driver education programs indicate little or no effect in reducing crashes per licensed driver, and offering driver education in schools can have an unintended negative effect on crash involvement by encouraging early licensure among 16-17 year-olds.¹⁶ The net result is more crashes per capita among teenagers. Connecticut eliminated high school driver education and lowered teenage crash rates by reducing licensure.¹⁷ Other school-based programs, such as those intended to reduce alcohol-impaired driving, have not been shown to be effective, at least in the short term.¹⁸