Facts about Youth Drivers
Motor vehicle collisions are the #1 cause of death for people ages 15 to 24 years old.
Every day in Canada, motor vehicle collisions cause:
- 8 deaths
- 600 injuries
- 1,600 crashes
- $27 million in costs to society
Over 2,800 deaths result from motor vehicle collisions each year. Approximately, 350 of these involve teens ages 15 to 19 years old.
Risk Factors for Young Drivers
Car crashes are not "accidents", they are preventable and often result from poor driver decisions.
5 Risk Factors for Young Drivers are:
- Driver Distractions
- According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, text messaging while driving increases your risk of a crash or near crash event by 23 times.
- Ontario research shows that teen drivers are almost 3 times more likely to be involved in a serious or fatal collision when carrying teen passengers.
- Impaired Driving
- Alcohol is a factor in approximately 30% of fatal motor vehicle collisions involving teens ages 16 to 19 years old.
- Next to alcohol, marijuana is the second most common drug found in dead and injured drivers.
- Speeding
- Among youth in Niagara, speeding accounts for over 20% of serious and fatal motor vehicle collisions.
- In rural areas your risk of a collision while driving:
- Doubles when travelling 10 km/h over the speed limit
- Increases roughly 6 times when travelling 20 km/h over the speed limit
- Increases roughly 18 times when travelling 30 km/h over the speed limit
- In urban areas your risk of a collision while driving doubles for every 5 km/h you travel over the posted speed limit
- Seat Belt Use
- The 7% of Canadians not wearing seat belts account for almost 40% of fatalities in vehicle collisions.
- Young drivers are among the least likely to wear their seat belts (90.3%).
- Using a seat belt is the single most effective way to reduce the chance of injury or death in a motor vehicle collision.
- Driving at Night
- In Niagara, collisions results from speeding and impairment are most common at night (between 6 p.m. - 6 a.m.).
- A study by researchers in Australia showed that being awake for 18 hours produced an impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .05.
Starting a group in your school to create awareness about these five risk factors is the first step in saving the lives of those who surround you.
