The risk of a teen being killed in a traffic crash rises with the number of young passengers according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.   

The study says if a 16 or 17 year old driver adds one passenger under the age of 21,  the risk  increases by 44%. With two young passengers, the risk doubles and with three or more, it quadruples.

But Jenny Robinson of AAA Mid-Atlantic says carrying an adult passenger has the opposite effect. A teen driving with an adult age 35 and up has their risk factor reduced by 62%.

Pennsylvania’s new teen driver law limits the number of non-family young passengers for the first six months of driving.  Robinson says parents can impose their own limits for a longer period.

Robinson says parents should set the rules before they hand over the keys.  She says AAA has parent and teen driver contracts on their website.

Robinson says they’ve known for some time that having young passengers is a distraction for a teen driver, and this study really makes the risk clear.