The National Institutes for Health and Virginia Tech University have conducted a study on the driving habits of teens with a learner’s permit and those who have been newly licensed. New York motorists may be interested to hear the results.
Researchers monitored the driving of 90 teen participants, starting from the time they obtained their permit to the first year they were licensed. Dash cams observed the driver and the road, and software recorded speed and braking data. Researchers concluded that participants, in the first three months of having a license, were eight times more likely to crash than during their last three months with a permit.
Participants, when newly licensed, were discovered to engage in risky behaviors. This included making severe turns, braking harshly and accelerating too fast. On the other hand, they proved to be safer than adults when traveling at night and in bad weather.
The fact is that car crashes are the number one cause of death among teens aged 14 to 19, according to the NIH. Researchers believe that the sudden transition from having parental supervision to not having it may leave teens having to develop certain driving skills on their own. The study recommends that driver education programs decrease supervision in a more gradual way to improve safety.
In the end, though, drivers who cause a car accident solely due to their own negligence cannot blame anyone but themselves. Occupants of other vehicles who have been injured in a crash caused by a driver who was speeding, intoxicated, or texting at the time might want to have legal assistance when seeking compensation for their losses.