Teen Drivers

Teen Drivers

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Abstract

Teen driving is one of the emerging issues across many states in the world. With the increase in the number of vehicle production, many teens are driving in most roads across the states. However, this has not come without consequences. Many teens are dying because of driving related problems. Car accidents among teens have emerged as one of the serious concerns of this century. Since the establishment of teenage driving policy, there have been many changes in this issue and various researches which have been conducted in this area. Therefore, need arises to give clear information about the depth of teenage driving. There is also a need to provide information on guiding and counseling for both parents and teens on the various risks associated with teenage driving (Goodman, 2005). This paper tries to show how teens are faced with a high risk of car accident injuries. It also recommends proper mechanisms that can be used to counsel teens. The paper also describes suitable programs which can be applied to curb the risks of teenage driving. It proposes preventive mechanisms for parents, medical practitioners, state law legislators and other child activists. The new approaches to this problem of teen driving will be an essential tool in curbing the problems associated with it. This is because the data from recent statistics about teen driving has shown that teen deaths from driving cannot change unless effective measures are considered .For most of the programs suggested by the state, data has shown that the root causes associated with teen behaviors have not been addressed effectively.

Teen Drivers

Section 1. Introduction

Over the last few years, many cases of death have been reported related to teen drivers. Many car accidents reported about teen drivers have resulted in a number of causalities getting injured while others have ended up facing death. Teenage deaths in car accidents have been named as the number one cause of death among the teens aged between 16 to 20 years (Aksomitis, 2009). The rate of death among the teens is as much as four times the number of the similar death for people of ages 25 to 65. This is based on the same number of drivers and accidents in the same age groups. Research has cited many reasons as to why this happen. These include drunk driving, over speeding, and lack of experiences.

Section 2 Causes of Teen Driver Death

To understand the cause of teenage driving deaths, it is necessary to analyze critically the cause. One of the first root causes of teen driving deaths is their social background. Most of the teens are forced first into driving due to the pressure around their society to drive. Many of them feel uncomfortable when they see their peers driving around. This is the reason why many of them are eager to acquire a driving license when they reach the age of 16 years (American mutual alliance, 1984). Many researches conducted to find out the causes of teenage driving deaths attribute the fact that most of the teenage deaths occur in circumstances where teens are being driven by a teen. Teens are known to engage in careless and reckless driving behaviors due to pressure from their peers. It has been seen that when teens are being driven by their fellow teen the risks of getting an accident increases significantly up to three times. It is worrying to note that, in this case the risk is still higher even if the other teens being driven are pushing or urging the teen driver to drive carelessly (Pierre, 1999).

The probabilities of getting a traffic accident have been found to increase with the number of teenage passengers in the cars. When a teenage driver is alone the probability of being involved in an accident is significantly reduced compared to when they are 3 or even four. The probability of being involved in an accident is about 40% when a teenager is driving alone, however, this risk doubles when a teenager is accompanied with another teenager. The chance is even higher, about three times when there are 4 teens in a car. Most of the teens try to show off their maneuvers and driving skills to other teens, thereby ending up causing many accidents. It is quite interesting to note that these relationships about the number of passengers and the risk of getting an accident are not seen in any adults. Most of the teens also want to brag in front of their teens how well they can maneuver around the road or how high they can speed when they are with other teens. Most of the teen driver deaths are reported to and from schools. This is seen during mornings, lunch time breaks, when students are coming out of school and during the evening. Most of the teenage drivers are distracted by their passengers during their driving or are encouraged to drive faster to meet deadlines or just for fun. In situations of mixed male and female teens, male drivers result into higher speeds and also risky driving. However, whenever a driver is female, the speeds are less (Berardelli, 2006).

Biological causes have also been attributed to a number of teenage driving deaths. One of the significant biological factors is the teens' brain. Most of the teen's brain is not well developed. Neuro- scientists argue that most of the teens especially between the ages of 13 to 17 frequently find problems in decision making due to their brain under development. It is further recommended that full development of the brain is achieved at the age of 25 years. The key decision-making part of the brain remains underdeveloped up to the age of nineteen years. In this situation, teens may face the problems of driving and decision making more often than their adult counterparts. This means that teenage drivers expose themselves at a risk of experiencing difficulties in their driving than adult drivers. Another biological argument is that teens are associated with an increased desire for novelty during their puberty periods. Therefore, most of the teens are determined to take many risks in their activities including driving. Teens are ready to try new and crazy driving styles, higher speeds and even take mechanical risks in their cars on the road. Male teens are at higher risks of getting accidents since most of the social norms attribute high speed driving to masculinity. Most of the social norms are also attributed masculinity to risky