According to a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), 2015 saw a 10 percent increase in traffic fatalities from car crashes involving teenage drivers.
That is the first increase in deaths from these types of accidents in almost a decade, as fatalities decreased by more than 50 percent from 2005 to 2014.
However, the decrease in fatalities was significantly less for teenage drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 than it was for teenage drivers between ages 15 and 17.
That is why policy makers need to make sure that all drivers under age 21 have access to programs that have been shown to improve driving safety, according to Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the GHSA.
One such program that exists in every state is Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL). These programs place limits on the times teenagers can drive and they have been shown to reduce the risk of crashes by 30 percent in some cases.
Unfortunately, most of these programs end by the time teenagers turn 18 and approximately one in three teenagers do not obtain driver’s licenses by the time they turn 18.
That is why the GHSA report advises policy makers to extend GDL programs to age 21 so that older teenagers receive the benefit of a three-stage licensing system that can help make them safer drivers.
The GHSA report, titled Mission Not Accomplished: Teen Safe Driving, the Next Chapter, examined statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
If you lost a loved one in a fatal car accident, contact a Fort Worth auto accident lawyer at Anderson & Cummings for a free consultation. You could be entitled to compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, and other damages.
Contact a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer today by calling (817) 920-9000.