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If you frequent this blog, you would know that we are very critical of teenage drivers. As car accident lawyers, we know that these younger, inexperienced teen drivers are the number one risk for auto accidents per age group.
There is some encouraging news surfacing, though, about teenage driver car accident statistics. As of 2007, fatal car accidents that involve teen drivers are at an all-time low (since these statistics became available in 1975).
The teen driver fatal car accident report released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
All our car accident attorneys ask is that teen drivers — and their parents — take heed to these staggering car accident statistics. Nothing can replace a life lost, not even the compensation we accident lawyers will fight for.
A total of 4,946 teenagers ages 13-19 died in car accidents in 2007. It is 43 percent fewer than the wrongful death accident numbers in 1975, and 4 percent fewer than in 2006. This number is less than half the all-time high number of 9.940 teens in fatal car accidents in 1978.
About two out of every three teenagers killed in auto accidents in 2007 were males — and this has been the case pretty much since these reports started over 30 years ago. Encouragingly, teenage wrongful death car accidents have decreased for males more than 50% since 1975 while females have decreased 24% in their own right.
While the numbers are going down, the teen driver car accident statistics are not yet low enough for us.
In 2007, Teenagers accounted for 10% of the U.S. population (over 300 million people in 2007) and, yet, are involved in 12% of all auto accident deaths. Teenage drivers are responsible for 14% of passenger wrongful deaths car accidents, 7% of pedestrian wrongful deaths, 5% of fatal or wrongful death motorcyclist accidents and 12% of bicycle wrongful death accidents.
The risk for a car accident is highest for teen drivers at age 16. The auto accident rate per mile driven is twice as high for 16-year-olds as it is for 18 and 19-year-olds.
Fatal car accidents involving teen drivers are typically single-car accidents, often due to driver error or speeding auto accidents. These wrongful death accidents are also more likely to occur when other teenagers are in the vehicle, so teenagers are disproportionately involved in car accidents as passengers.
Car accident statistics for teenage drivers are high largely due to their immaturity and lack of driving inexperience. Teen drivers tend to drive risky — speeding and tailgating cause car accidents — and at the same time, teenagers’ lack of car driving experience makes it difficult for them to recognize and respond to hazards.
Please feel free to call us now at 1-858-551-2090 or you can click here for a free consultation with an experienced car accident attorney. We have a large bilingual staff that can assist you in either English or Spanish. No fee if no recovery.
SENIOR PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY & FIRM FOUNDER
Michael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in 1987. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes how insurance companies work and how they decide how much to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael’s inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents. Learn more about Michael Pines