AppId is over the quota
For decades, parents have warned teens about driving with friends in the car.
A study released today by the American Automobile Association puts numbers behind those fears.
The risk of 16- and 17-year-old drivers being killed in a crash increases with each additional passenger under 21, according to the report, "Teen Driver Risk in Relation to Age and Number of Passengers."
According to the study, the fatality risk to 16- or 17-year-old drivers:
Increases 44% when carrying one passenger younger than 21 (and no older passengers).Doubles when carrying two passengers younger than 21 (and no older passengers).Quadruples when carrying three or more passengers younger than 21 (and no older passengers).Carrying at least one passenger age 35 or older cuts a teen driver's risk of death by 62% and the risk of involvement in any police-reported crash by 46%."We know that carrying young passengers is a huge risk, but it's also a preventable one," said AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety President and CEO Peter Kissinger. "These findings should send a clear message to families that parents can make their teens safer immediately by refusing to allow them to get in the car with other young people, whether they're behind the wheel or in the passenger seat."
The AAA study is the latest of three recent reports about the dangers teen drivers face, the Washington Post reports.
The Governors Highway Safety Association found a slight increase in the number of fatal crashes involving 16- and 17-year-old drivers after reviewing preliminary data from the first six months of last year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last month said its research found that drivers under the age of 24 were much more likely than more mature drivers to send and receive text messages while driving, according to the Post.
