Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among those aged 15-20, with the incidence of crashes peaking at age 16—about the time most teens get their first license. Almost 2/3 of all teens killed in motor vehicle accidents were male, a full third of the young drivers killed in motor vehicle accidents had been drinking alcohol, 37% were speeding, and over half of all teens killed were not wearing a seat belt. Among sixteen and seventeen year old drivers, the death rate increased exponentially with each additional passenger in the car.
Parents, of course, are hard-wired to worry about statistics such as these, and insurance companies set their premiums based on such statistics. Interestingly enough, however, a recent study showed that nighttime driving is far and away the biggest risk faced by teen drivers across the United States. Nighttime driving is responsible for more teen accidents than drinking, speeding or failure to wear a seat belt.
Why is Night Driving So Deadly?
Teen drivers are inherently inexperienced, and night driving offers a whole host of factors which are not present in the daytime. Even though many cities have passed texting bans, teens are the worst offenders for using their cell phones at unsafe and inappropriate times—nearly thirty percent of teens admit to texting behind the wheel. While texting during the daytime is dangerous enough, texting at night can be deadly. A teen driver who is already inexperienced will not be able to cope with the uncertainties of nighttime driving, and may also suffer from insufficient sleep and susceptibility to distraction. Every rowdy teenage passenger in the car adds yet another distraction to an already-distracted teen driver who just doesn’t have enough driving time under his belt to know how to make the quick decisions nighttime driving requires.
Legal Solutions to the Problem
Although a few states still allow teens to get a learner’s permit as early as age 14, the days of unrestricted licenses by age 16 are slowly disappearing. Legislation is currently being proposed in the Senate which will encourage each state to phase teen driving in gradually. This would be accomplished through strict bans on cell phone use, prohibition of night driving, and allowing no more than one teenage passenger in the car.
Although not a total night-driving prohibition, drivers younger than 18 would not be allowed to drive between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. without a parent or guardian in the vehicle with them. Additionally, any driver below the age of 18 who commits a moving violation within six months of receiving their full license would face a probationary time where they could only drive with a parent in the vehicle. The goal is to strictly regulate all drivers younger than age 18, and the federal government believes they will get state compliance through the threat of losing federal highway funding.
Remaining Tough on DUI for Teens
Law enforcement agencies continue to make enforcement of drug and alcohol-related driving violations among teenagers a top priority. While the standard over-the-limit alcohol consumption is 0.08%, there are special laws for teen drivers, known as zero-tolerance laws. If a teen has had anything at all to drink before they get behind the wheel, they will receive an automatic license suspension, and be charged with an underage DUI. Even a first-time juvenile offender can be sentenced to jail time, probation, DUI education classes and thousands of dollars in fines.
Education is necessary to lower the incidence of teenage accidents; while fully 80 percent of all teens understand that driving while impaired is a bad idea, only about 3% understand how dangerous night driving can be for an inexperienced teenage driver. If your teen has been involved in an accident, whether through their own fault or that of another, it’s important to contact an experienced Florida DUI attorney who can detail the options for the young person.
