Scanning mistakes, misjudging road conditions and driver distraction are three common mistakes causing teen driver wrecks. But new research shows how to prevent these costly mistakes.
BY TARA PARKER-POPE - New YorkTimes
Publishedin: Science/Technology
Teenagers are notoriously bad drivers, accounting for 10 times as many crashesas middle-age ones. But short of keeping them off the road entirely, is there away to make their driving safer - for them and for the rest of us?
New researchsuggests there is.
A nationallyrepresentative sample of more than 800 crashes involving teenage drivers showsthat almost two-thirds were due not to reckless behavior such as speeding orjoyriding but to three novice driving mistakes: failing to scan the road,misjudging driving conditions and becoming distracted.
Focusing onthese common mistakes could go a long way in improving teenage driving andreducing fatalities, said an author of the report, Dr. Dennis Durbin,co-director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children'sHospital of Philadelphia. The findings, from the children's hospital and StateFarm Insurance, were published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
"Thequestion is, What should we be doing with teens during that learning phase thatcan produce a better driver?" Durbin said in an interview. "We wantto create programs that can help parents more intentionally teach these kindsof skills."
Since themid-1990s most states have adopted tougher teenage driving laws, with graduatedpermit programs that delay full licensing until new drivers are older and havemore supervised experience. Studies of traffic fatalities and teenage drivingaccidents show that the most effective restrictions include delaying learningpermits until age 16 and requiring at least six months of instruction before adriver's test. (Many states still issue permits as young as 14 or 15.)
Other rulesinclude requiring 40 to 50 hours of parent-supervised instruction before alicense is given, and delaying full licensure until age 18 - which means nodriving after 10 p.m. and no teenage passengers. One state, New Jersey,requires novice drivers younger than 21 to display a new-driver decal untilthey obtain a full-privilege license.
Overall, thetougher laws are credited with a 30 percent drop in teenage highway fatalities.Even so, teenagers have the highest crash risk of any age group and account forfour times as many traffic fatalities as adults. Durbin says it's important touse the extended permitting period to help teenagers improve their drivingskills.
Twenty-onepercent of teenagers' crashes, the new study shows, are due to scanningmistakes - failing to scan the road ahead and to check mirrors regularly tolook for potential risks behind and to the sides. Other mistakes in thiscategory include misjudging the speed of an oncoming car while making a leftturn and failing to anticipate that a parked truck can block the view of anintersection.
"Teenagerskeep a tunnel vision right off the hood of the car," Durbin said."They think all they need to do is look straight ahead, but they don'trealize the need to be scanning back and forth so they always know where theircar is in space."
Mostexperienced drivers do this automatically, so as parents they may not focus onit when instructing their young drivers. To help build scanning skills and helplearners expand their vision beyond the hood, Durbin suggests quizzing themabout the surroundings. Ask questions such as "What color is the car threecars ahead of you?" or "What color jacket is the person on thesidewalk wearing?"
Another 21percent of the crashes arise from misjudging road conditions. The young drivermay not be speeding but fails to slow down at a curve or in slipperyconditions.
The problemis that many parents don't let teenagers drive when road conditions are poor.Instead, they should use poor weather as an opportunity to supervise, givingtheir new driver experience on wet or icy roads or during a nighttimerainstorm.
Twentypercent of crashes are due to driver distraction - not necessarily from acellphone but usually from another passenger in the car.
One way toaddress all of these issues is "narrative driving," in which theadult drives while giving a teenage passenger a play-by-play. Point outexamples of unsafe driving, explain why you are changing lanes or slowing down,announce when you are checking the mirrors and explain how you are reacting toinformation. Show the teen how you deal with distractions such as a disruptivechild in the back seat without taking your eyes off the road.
"It'shelpful to talk out loud about what you're seeing and doing," Durbin said."It sensitizes your teen to the fact that there is a lot more going on uphere in the front seat than he thought there was."
Other newresearch suggests that parents need to be aware of whether their teenagers aregetting enough sleep. The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine recently reportedthat those who started school earlier in the morning had higher crash rates.
The findingscome from a comparison of crash data from Virginia Beach, Va., where highschool classes began about 7:20 a.m., and the neighboring town of Chesapeake,where they started about 8:30. The weekday crash rate for 16- to 18-year-oldswas about 41 percent higher in Virginia Beach. Although more study is needed toexplain the reasons for the difference, the study does suggest that sleep deficitsmay play a role.
"If aparent knows that a son or daughter has been up to 12:30 and has to be up at 6in the morning, maybe that's a morning that they don't drive to school,"said lead author Robert Vorona, an associate professor of sleep medicine atEastern Virginia Medical School. "Teens are not good drivers, and anythingwe can do to hopefully make things safer for them and for us is worthwhile.We're all sharing the road with them."
A new studyshows three frequent causes of wrecks involving teenage drivers.
Scanningmistakes, 21 percent: Teens fail to scan the road ahead and check mirrors forpotential risks behind and to the sides. Other mistakes in this categoryinclude misjudging the speed of an oncoming car while turning left.
Misjudgingroad conditions, 21percent: The young driver may not be speeding butfails to slow down at a curve or on a slippery road.
Driverdistraction, 20 percent: The distraction is usually from a passengerin the car.
New findingsshow a 30 percent drop in teenage fatalities, a reduction that is beingattributed to tougher laws. Still, the crash risk for teens is higher than forany age group; teens account for four times as many traffic fatalities asadults.