The contribution of fatal crashes involving teens transporting teens

Abstract

Objective: We determined the proportion of all fatal crashes of 16- and 17-year-old drivers that involved the presence of teenage passengers from 2004 to 2008.

Methods: Data on fatal crashes of 16- and 17-year-old drivers were derived from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for the years 2004-2008.

Results: For both 16- and 17-year-old drivers, in each of the 5 years examined, at least 39 percent of all their fatal crash events involved the presence of 13- to 19-year-old passengers and no one younger or older. For 16- to 17-year-olds combined, the proportion of crashes involving drivers with teen passengers changed little from 2004 (43%) to 2008 (41%), despite the growth in the number of states with passenger restrictions from 23 to 37 during this period.

Conclusion: A high proportion of teen crashes involve the presence of other teens as passengers at the time of the crash. There is a need to find effective ways to reduce these crashes.