Safety with Teen Drivers

While discussions with consumers about the cost to insure a teenage driver involve confusion and dismay, there is an abundance of evidence to substantiate, even to skeptics, the higher costs required to insure inexperienced drivers. With help from studies conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the following statistics can be helpful in making parents and teenage drivers aware of the risks associated with insuring inexperienced drivers.

• For every mile driven, teen drivers have crash rates three times greater than drivers ages 20 and older.
• In 2012, teenagers accounted for 8 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths. Teenagers represented 10 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths among all ages, 6 percent of pedestrian deaths, 3 percent of motorcyclist deaths, 11 percent of bicyclist deaths, and 13 percent of all-terrain vehicle rider deaths.
• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 20-year olds. A total of 2,823 teenagers, ages 13–19, died in motor vehicle crashes in 2012.
• Why does it cost more to insure males? Almost two out of every three teenagers killed in crashes in 2012 were males.
• Why are some states more expensive? States with strong restrictions to teenage drivers (e.g., graduated licensing, bans on nighttime driving, and teen passengers) found substantially lower fatal crash rates and insurance claim rates.
• June and July are the months with the highest risk for teenage crash deaths.
• Fifty-three percent of motor vehicle crash deaths among teenagers in 2012 occurred on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.
• The hours 9:00 p.m. to midnight have the highest percentage of teenage motor vehicle crash deaths (17 percent).
• A May 2012 report revealed the risk of 16- or 17-year old drivers being killed in a crash increases by 44 percent with one passenger, doubles with two passengers, and quadruples with three or more passengers.
• Research suggests 1 in 10 teens in high school drinks and drives. Drivers between ages of 16 and 20 are 17 times more likely to die in a crash when they have a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.08 percent than when they have not been drinking.
• Males are more likely than females to have high BAC above 0.08 percent. Among fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers ages 16–17, 18 percent of males and 10 percent of females had BACs at or above 0.08 percent. Among fatally injured drivers ages 18–19, 30 percent of males and 17 percent of females had BACs at or above 0.08 percent.