Much has been done to make teen drivers safer over the years. They have regulations about how much time they have to spend practicing, they have to take official driving classes and they need to pass tests before they’re given a license. All of this is designed to get them to be comfortable and safe behind the wheel.
But the fact remains that teenage drivers cause fatal car accidents at the highest rate every year. This is despite the fact that people are working hard to help them become safe and avoid these accidents. So what is really the problem here?
The inexperience issue
The problem is inexperience. Teenage drivers haven’t spent as long practicing and honing their craft, and that is going to lead to driving mistakes. These mistakes are then going to lead to accidents.
The reason that teenagers are required to put in so much practice time is to try to get them some experience before simply allowing them to drive. And that is helpful, in the sense that someone who has never driven before would be even more dangerous.
But it doesn’t address the overall issue, which is simply that having spent fewer years on the road means that teens are always going to be more likely to make mistakes than older drivers. There’s a reason the accident rates tend to fall quickly over the first months and even years that someone has their license. The biggest thing that can increase road safety is having more experienced drivers who commit fewer errors and cause fewer accidents.
Of course, some of these car accidents are going to happen while teens are getting the experience they so desperately need. If you’ve been injured by a driver who made a mistake, you need to know if you can seek financial compensation.