Georgia Injury Law Blog
There is good news for teen motorists – a category of drivers that is traditionally one of the most at risk groups for car accidents. The Governors Highway Safety Association in a recent report announced that there has been a significant drop in the number of fatal car accidents involving young motorists.
The Governors Highway Safety Association recently released the findings of a new report titled Young Drivers and Traffic Fatalities: 20 Years of Progress on the Road to Zero. The report finds that there was a 38% drop in the number of fatal car accidents involving teenage drivers since 2002. During the same period of time, there was actually an increase of 8% in the number of fatal car accidents involving older drivers above the age of 21. There was also a significant 45% drop in the number of teen car accident wrongful deaths during the same period of time, compared to a spike of 11% in car accident deaths for older drivers above the age of 21. Traditionally, teenage drivers have had a car accident wrongful death rate that is four times higher than for drivers above the age of 21.
A number of factors could possibly have impacted this significant drop in fatal car accidents involving teenage drivers. The Governors Highway Safety Association makes note of the fact that teenage drivers are driving at lower volumes than they used to in 2002. The organization also believes that this has contributed to just a very small percentage of the staggering drop in fatal teen car accidents. The Governors Highway Safety Association believes that much of the drop has to do with the fact that so many states like Georgia now have solid Graduated Drivers’ Licensing programs in place. These programs place significant restrictions on a teenager’s ability to drive independently including restrictions on the ability to drive at night and drive with teenage passengers in the car. However, most of these Graduated Drivers’ Licensing programs apply to drivers below the age of 18, and the report recommends that states extend these programs to drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 in order to reduce those accident risks further.