With global focuses shifting towards the growing crisis of road deaths of young people, USA Today; the American national media outlet features a headline on the issue. A report from the USA’s National Road Safety Group highlights a growing problem: an increase in fatalities of 16 and 17 year old drivers after a declining trend in the past decade.
This is a particularly worrying trend as road traffic crashes in most Western developed countries have stabilized or declined while low and middle-income countries have seen a dramatic rise in road crashes; especially amongst young people. While statistics illustrate that in the West, road traffic crashes have decreased, road crashes are still the biggest killer of young people aged 11-30 worldwide.
USA Today Reports:
The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) examined deaths of 16- and 17-year-old drivers through the first six months of 2011 and found an 11% increase over the same period in 2010. Deaths of 16-year-olds rose 16% and 17-year-olds 7%, for an overall jump of 11%. Twenty-three states saw increases, 19 had decreases, and there was no change in eight states and the District of Columbia.
The study by the GHSA, which represents states on highway safety issues, covers only the first half of last year. Traffic deaths usually rise during the second half of the year, which includes summer and vacation driving. If data for the second half of 2011 continue the trend, it would be the first time in eight years that deaths have risen for this age group of drivers.
The rise is believed to be caused mainly by two things, says Allan Williams, a highway safety consultant who conducted the study:
- The improving economy means more teens on the roads. The recession probably helped reduced travel among teen drivers in 2008 and 2009; those drivers are returning to the highways.
- The impact of phased-in driving privileges for teens — graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs — is leveling off. These initiatives, implemented or strengthened in the mid-1990s, are in place in every state. “Once you get that initial impact, you’re not going to get another 20% drop the next year, unless you can improve compliance,” Williams says.
The states that saw increases in deaths among young drivers “don’t stand out as weak” GDL states, Williams says. He says there is room for further strengthening of state GDL laws and for more consistent enforcement of some provisions, such as restrictions on teen passengers and nighttime driving.
Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, cautions that “if you’re looking at six months’ worth of data, you’ve got to be careful about trying to draw global conclusions.” GDL programs are proven effective, and parental involvement is crucial, he says.
“Regardless of state laws, parents can just institute and enforce restrictions consistent with the best GDLs,” Kissinger says. “The best GDL programs are only as good as what is enforced. And parents are in a much better position than local police to enforce those provisions.”
Floor Lieshout, Director at YOURS – Youth for Road Safety, in response to this article stated, ´This is a disturbing sign in the US and needs immediate action. More than half of the states saw increases the first half year and with the forecast that during the second half of the year traffic deaths usually rise, it does not look good at all. We urge all stakeholders to take action and not wait till this trend continues’.
Additionally, the promotion of federal-laws such as those of Secretary of Transportation, Mr Ray LaHood; the ban of texting while driving could help to save thousands of young lives. When Mr LaHood met a YOURS delegation to the First Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow, Russia in late 2009, his immediate response to the Moscow Youth Declaration for Road Safety was to encourage young people to pledge to never text-and drive. YOURS believes that laws, with multi-sectoral support; enforcement, education, infrastructure and so forth can save thousands of young lives.
Youth delegates with US Transportation Secretary Mr Ray LaHood