Personal Injury Law

Nighttime Driving is a Big Risk for Teenage Drivers, According to Study

By Ben Glass

A national 10-year study has found that nighttime driving is the greatest risk for teenage drivers. This factor causes more deadly accidents than drinking, speeding and failing to wear a seatbelt.

The study examined data from fatal crashes that occurred from 1999 to 2008. What was interesting about this time period is that fatal accidents had actually gone down, with the exception of nighttime driving accidents. This strange trend caused researchers to look even deeper, which led them to the issue of teenage drivers.

'Everything points in the same direction for this age group, and that it is due to the use of cell phones behind the wheel. Whenever you combine the nighttime danger and the cell phone danger with inexperience, you have created a perfect storm,' said Bernie Fette, one of the authors of the study. According to Fette, teenagers are used to having cell phones in their hands and this comfort can result in a false sense of security.

One of the biggest lessons that we can take away from this study is that we need to reinforce to our teenage children that using a cell phone while driving, whether it is at night or during the day, is dangerous. They need to put away their cell phones and keep their attention on the road.

Full post as published by Northern Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer on May 19, 2010 (boomark / email).