Teen drivers are eight times more likely to be involved in a crash or near-miss in their first three months of holding a driver\u2019s license, compared to the previous three months of holding a learner\u2019s permit, according to a new study.<\/p>\n
Led by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)<\/a>, the study also suggests that teens are four times more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as rapid acceleration, sudden braking and hard turns during this period. In contrast, teens on a learner\u2019s permit drive more safely, with their crash\/near crash and risky driving rates similar to those of adults.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven the abrupt increase in driving risks when teenagers start to drive independently, our findings suggest that they may benefit from a more gradual decrease in adult supervision during the first few months of driving alone,\u201d said Bruce Simons-Morton, Ed.D., M.P.H., Senior Investigator at NIH\u2019s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)<\/a> and one of the authors of the study.<\/p>\n The study followed the same teenagers over time, from the beginning of the learner period through the first year of\u00a0independent driving, while continuously collecting information using software and cameras installed in the participants\u2019 vehicles. Overall, the study found that the crash\/near crash rate for teenagers did not decline over the first year of independent driving, while the rate of risky driving modestly declined. The researchers said that if teenagers were learning from their experiences, they would expect driving risks to consistently decline over time.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the learner\u2019s permit period, parents are present, so there are some skills that teenagers cannot learn until they are on their own,\u201d said Pnina Gershon, Ph.D., the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cWe need a better understanding of how to help teenagers learn safe driving skills when parents or other adults are not present.\u201d<\/p>\n