Curbing the Dangers of Summer Teen Driving Accidents in Tennessee

Along with the summer sunshine comes the heartbreak that thousands of parents of teen drivers will experience when they get the terrible news that their son or daughter has been injured – or even worse, killed – in a car accident. When school lets out for the summer we open the floodgates of newly minted teen drivers who are hitting the road to find fun, excitement and adventure for a few short weeks before they have to be back in the classroom. Unfortunately, car accidents are the leading cause of death for teens in the United States.

Teen drivers are four times more likely to be involved in a car crash than older, more experienced drivers and teen drivers are driving 44% more during the summer and they are doing it with less supervision according to MADD.

Major causes of teen car accidents

Aside from pure inexperience, there are a few causes of the great majority of teen auto accidents, which include:

• Teens and drunk driving – Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens, and about a quarter of those crashes involve an underage drinking driver. (NHTSA) About 23% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in car crashes had a Blood Alcohol Counts of 0.08 or higher.
• Distracted driving – Texting while driving is as dangerous as drunk driving. Texting while driving causes 1,600,000 accidents every year.
• Speeding – Of the male drivers killed between age 15 and 20 years of age, 38% were speeding.

How parents of teen drivers can help

Parents do have one powerful tool that they can use to help save their kids’ lives and that is to talk with them. Talk with your kids about the dangers of speeding, drunk driving, texting behind the wheel and of distracted driving in general. Set firm ground rules with consequences about putting their phone out of reach while they are driving, not having too many young passengers in the car at once and not drinking and driving ever. Let them know that they can always call you for help if they feel too impaired to drive, or make sure that they will agree to call a cab.

Although teens may be aware of the dangers associated with speeding, drunk driving and texting, they may be under the mistaken notion that those kinds of things happen to other people. Take the time to inform your teen of the dangers and provide consequences for them if they violate your guidelines. They may not be happy about it, but if it keeps them from getting into a fatal auto accident, you have done the best you can do as a parent.

Has your teen been injured in an auto accident? You may have many questions and wonder what to do next. The knowledgeable team of personal injury attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC is ready to discuss your case and advise you about what to do next. We maintain offices in Memphis and Jackson to better serve our West Tennessee clients and their families.