Crash Course
The risks of teenage driving and what parents
can do to stop reckless behavior

Editor’s Note: This concludes our two-part series on driving safety. We hope you have learned valuable information that will keep you and your loved ones safe on Atlanta’s roadways.

By Lissa Poirot

    The headlines and news channels reported them frequently last summer. In Forsyth County alone: “Two Teens Die in Early Morning Wreck” on May 24; “Sports Car Crash Kills Local Teen” on May 28; “Two Teens Killed in Wreck” on July 29; “Four Teens Injured in Late-Night Wreck” on Aug. 2.
     We shake our heads when we hear the news of another teen crash. “Of course,” we may think, teens are reckless and as they speed on by, it almost seems inevitable. But those headlines mean so much more to parents. For some, they feel lucky it’s not their child. For others, they will have to live with the pain of losing their son or daughter in one careless moment. Teens shouldn’t be making headlines like this. A parent shouldn’t have to feel the grief of losing a child to a driving accident. And drivers shouldn’t have to fear teens in cars. Something needs to be done. Which is
why teen driving has become an important topic for high schools, sheriff offices, and the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

The Cold Hard Facts
     Forsyth’s summer accidents made headlines, but the county isn’t the worst for teen driving deaths and injuries on the Northside. That honor goes to Gwinnett County, which claims the highest number of crash deaths for teens, not just on the Northside, but in the entire state of Georgia. While teens represent seven percent of the state’s population, they represent 12 percent of all crash deaths.
     According to the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles, one out of every five crash deaths is related to speed. The Governor’s Office added that in 2000, that was especially true of 16- and 17-year-olds. Nearly half of all deaths in automobile accidents are attributed to those not wearing safety belts. Alcohol plays a role in one out of every three deaths. Inexperience also plays a role, and the Governor’s Office found that drivers ages 16 to 24 have a higher rate of accidents, injuries and fatalities. Each of these factors in crash deaths is due to taking increased risks when getting behind the wheel, said Bob Dallas, director for the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
    “The judgment of a young driver is not developed, and they are more likely to take risks, especially boys,” Dallas said. “Studies have even been done that suggest that the last part of the brain to develop controls risk. There are two risk factors: speed and failing to wear a safety belt. Teens who speed are driving beyond the capacity that they are capable of handling and beyond the capacity of the road conditions,” he added.
  “And it shocks me to no end that teens just don’t wear safety belts. An SUV with four teens in Henry County crashed and rolled, killing two passengers and severely injuring another who was not buckled up. At the memorial service for the teens, kids arriving to mourn their friends were not buckled up. A reporter noticed the irony and asked a few teens why they weren’t wearing a seatbelt and they had no response.”
     Nationally, a review of drivers of all ages by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that 16-year-olds were involved in more crashes than any other age, although closely followed by 17-year-olds. Sixteen-year-olds were involved in 43 crashes per every million miles, 17-year-olds in 30. At 18, that number decreased to 16, at 19 it decreased to 14, and between 20 to 24 years of age, it went down to 10. From there, the numbers remain between four and seven crashes per million miles until the drivers are above the age of 75. Of all fatal crashes by age, driver error is the No. 1 characteristic, and from 16 to 19, nearly 40 percent of all fatal crashes involved only one vehicle.
     In Forsyth County, a number of factors resulted in those tragic aforementioned summer accidents. The sting of disasters began with two teen deaths and three injuries in May when alcohol and no seatbelts played roles in a crash that occurred just before 5 a.m. The accident involving four teens, including a 14-year-old, occurred after 11 p.m. and involved underage drinking by the passengers and the driver, who was seriously injured when he was ejected from the vehicle, a result of not wearing a seatbelt. May’s sports car crash that killed the driver
and injured the passenger was a result of excess speeds. The driver was killed when he was ejected from the car, also a result of not wearing his seatbelt. These accidents and statistics highlight the need for strict seatbelt and DUI enforcement and a curfew on teen drivers between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.
    “It’s been found that teens that are driving after midnight are already participating in riskier behavior, such as drinking, carrying too many people in the car and having more distractions,” Dallas said. “Since the Teenage and Adult Driver Responsibility Act (TADRA) was passed in 1997, limiting nighttime driving hours for teens, we have seen nothing but positive results.”
     The late July accident, however, that killed two teens didn’t involve alcohol, both had worn seatbelts, and speed was not an issue. The crash appeared to be the result of inexperience as the driver crossed the yellow line and then overcorrected her car, causing it to veer off the road and into a tree.
    “For teens, the common mistake leading to accidents is the over-correction a teen will engage in, especially with speed involved,” Dallas said. “The accident in Forsyth did not involve speed or alcohol, but simply the driver began to veer and overcorrected, which resulted in the vehicle flipping and in two deaths of teens that were wearing seatbelts. A seasoned driver wouldn’t have overcorrected.”
    “Basically, the overall training teens receive for driving could always be improved upon,” added Forsyth County Sheriff Captain Mike Honiker of the Special Operations Division. “In Forsyth County, our roads are small and narrow and not fit to accommodate the growing traffic. [They’re] hard to navigate even for the more experienced driver. Combine the inexperience with our roads and we have more accidents.”
     All of the frightening statistics have led Georgia to establish stricter laws meant to help the teen driver. Besides the curfew law that prohibits late-night teen driving, Georgia is also one of the few states that requires a graduated licensing program, recommended by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a Washington, D.C.-based, nonprofit program under the AAA umbrella. TADRA, which limits nighttime driving, is actually a three-year program for ages 15 to 18. The first of its three graduated steps begins at 15 when a teen can obtain an instructional permit after passing a written test. This permit gives the teen the opportunity to practice driving with a licensed adult over the age of 21. From 16 to 18 years of age, the teen is provided an intermediate license after having a permit for a year and passing a driving test. Teens must have 40 hours of drive time, with six nighttime hours, or 20 hours (six at night) if participating in a driver’s education program. It is during this time that the drivers are restricted from driving between midnight and 6 a.m., as well as from driving with any non-family member under 21 for the first six months of having received the license. After 18, the teen receives a full license, provided they have not received any DUIs or violations such as reckless driving, drag racing or any other violation that earns four or more points on their license.
    “All the laws developed for teen driving safety have had a positive impact,” said J. Fairley Washington, director of communications with the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Parents don’t want to make the rules for their teens; they are worried their teens won’t like them and are afraid to be too strict. Teen crashes and fatalities are such a problem that the government decided to do something. These laws are the government’s way of parenting and stepping in where the parents don’t. The stats show that the older a teen gets, the more accidents and fatalities decrease, and that’s first because of experience and secondly because of maturity. The laws help teens get that experience and maturity.”

Steering in the Right Direction
     While TADRA reduced teenage speed-related crashes 44.5 percent in the first 18 months of its induction and the government is attempting to curtail the teen crash epidemic, ultimately, the control lies in the hands of parents. State officials and AAA all agree on four easy steps parents can take to help lower their children’s risk of crashes. Initially, the most important thing we can do is lead by example.
    “Parents ask for more law enforcement to help lower the accidents, but the law can’t just stop a teen from being a teen,” Dallas said. “Yes, they can stop a teen for not wearing a seatbelt or for speeding, but don’t forget who the best teacher is to those drivers — it’s us, the parents. We need to lead by example. We would do well to curb our speeding. We all think we’re good drivers, but we really need to take a look at how we are driving and what example we are setting for our children.”
    “Parents really make an impact on their children, and teens learn by example,” Washington added. “Teens grow up watching their parents drive, and parents need to be conscious of their driving behavior.”
     Secondly, be sure to provide teens the opportunity to practice driving as much as they can, not just the recommended 40 hours. Stats repeatedly indicate that with age and experience, accidents are reduced. “The more supervised hours a teen has driving before obtaining his license, the better,” Dallas said. “We are drivers who may have been driving for 20 years. We have thousands of hours of driving under our belt and our judgment is much better than a teen’s.”
     As the father of a 17-year-old son, Dallas is very concerned about teen driving. His personal method for giving his son more experience was to turn his son into his chauffeur once he received his permit. “Whenever we were in the car together, I had him drive for me. Just because teens only need 40 hours of supervised driving doesn’t mean a parent can’t provide more. Every time you are in a car with your teen it becomes an opportunity to guide them on the rules of road and what it takes to be a driver.”
     The third step in a parent safety action plan is to enroll teens in driver’s education. Numerous programs are offered that even include parents, so they can be better teachers on the roads. Forsyth County, for example, offers a free program every month led by deputies who have seen it all. For about $150, 11 Alive sponsors a six-hour New Driver Car Control Clinic. It was credited with a 77-percent reduction in crashes in Florida over a four-year period. AAA offers risk management training software called Driver-ZED that provides driving exposure behind a computer rather than behind the wheel, giving teens an opportunity to safely learn how to manage dangerous driving conditions. Other programs, such as the recent seminar held at Six Flags Over Georgia and led by the Safe America Foundation, provide simulators and opportunities for families to hear stories from other teens on the dangers of driving.
    “It’s hard to speak directly to teens about driving safety,” Washington said. “All the laws created for teen safety, it’s hard for teens to see why these laws are good for them. Stats don’t work as well. It’s personal stories that get through to teens.”
     And the final step to making sure teens are driving safely? Good parenting. Be sure the vehicle a teen is driving is safe. As Captain Honiker pointed out, “It doesn’t help that the kids are driving cars with more horsepower. SUVs in particular are a problem. Bigger is not necessarily better. These bigger cars are easier for the kids to lose control of, especially on our small roads.” He noted that smaller isn’t necessarily better either. “Parents need to choose a car for its safety ratings, not it’s size. And partner that with good driving education,” he said.
     But ultimately, if a teen is showing signs of risky driving behaviors, parents need to take control immediately. “As a parent, you own the keys to the car, not the kid. Be the parent, not the friend,” Dallas said. “If a teen is not ready to drive, don’t let him drive.” v