National Teen Driver Safety Week is October 20-26, 2024 – a good opportunity to increase safety messaging across all platforms.

Hey Teens! Drive like your friends’ lives depend on it.

A teen’s inexperience behind the wheel makes them more susceptible to crashes, so including teen safety messaging in a traffic safety communication plan is important. Specific risk factors for teens behind the wheel include alcohol and drug use, not wearing a seat belt, distracted driving, additional passengers, speeding, and drowsy driving.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of preventable death for teens (15-18 years old) in the United States. In 2023, young drivers (age 15-20) represent 6.6% of Michigan’s driving population. The drivers in this age group represented 10.1% of drivers in all crashes and 8.2% of drivers in fatal crashes. This age group accounted for 7.1% of all traffic deaths, and 61.5% of those deaths were drivers.

Generally, younger drivers in Michigan had a higher incidence of speeding, failing to yield, and inability to stop in assured clear distance as a hazardous action in the crash. They had higher rates of collision with a ditch, hitting a tree, hitting a concrete barrier, and overturn as the most harmful event. They were less likely to be alone in their car at the time of the crash. The most common hazardous action coded for drivers age 15-20 was unable to stop in assured clear distance, with 19.0% of the total. Speed too fast was the most common for fatal crashes, with 20.6% of the total.

To help talk to teens about driving safely, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) and its traffic safety partners created the Teen Driving Parental Toolkit. The toolkit provides useful information and resources that parents and guardians can utilize to help teach their teens safe-driving habits. The kit includes information on:

– Driving safely in poor weather, such as fog, rain, ice, snow, and high winds

– Handling special weather hazards, including flooding, snowplows, black ice, and bridges

– Making sure your teen driver is prepared with a properly maintained vehicle and emergency kit

– Teen defensive driver programs

– Tech for your teen

– Resources for parents

Additional information on teen driver safety can be found on the OHSP’s website.