Study Says First Month of “Solo” Driving Is a Risky Time For Teens

Teens are 50% more likely to crash the first after they get their driver’s license than they are after a full year of driving on their own. That’s according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.  Three common mistakes; failure to reduce speed, inattention and failure to yield account for 57% of those crashes

Jenny Robinson of AAA Mid-Atlantic says teen drivers have certain issues they face when they’re inexperienced. She says there are certain types of crashes that occur with relatively high rates in the first months of licensed teen driving, but once they gain experience, those crash rates decline quickly.  One example is crashes involving left hand turns; they are more common for teens during the first few months of driving.

Robinson suggests parents ride with their newly licensed teens as much as possible and use every teachable moment. That includes offering tips on the road when the parent is driving and the teen is the passenger.

Robinson says the more practice the better, the more teaching the better.  Currently, Pennsylvania requires teens to have 50 hours of behind the wheel training before getting their license. A bill recently passed by the legislature would increase that to 65 hours.

Robinson says driving is an acquired skill that gets better with experience.  She says the judgment is not always there with a new driver to determine how fast car is coming, how much time and care they need to allow when making a turn and what the stopping distance is when they have to make a sudden stop.

You can see the full study at AAAfoundation.org and also view videos of teen drivers behind the wheel taken as part of the study. Those videos captured a number of close calls likely due to inexperience behind the wheel.