All North Dakota drivers are susceptible to distraction on some level, but research suggests teenage motorists are more prone to distraction than older drivers with more experience. Distraction comes in many forms, and while technology and cellphones are frequent sources of distraction for younger drivers, younger passengers are, too.
AAA Newsroom reports that when a driver in his or her teens has a passenger in the car who is also a teen and crashes, the odds of the crash being fatal rise 51% because of the teen passenger being along for the ride.
How young passengers affect fatal accident rates
While a teenage passenger makes a teenage driver becomes 45% more likely to die in a car wreck when he or she has a teenage passenger, others who are not in the car controlled by the teen are even more at risk of a fatality. People in other vehicles involved in the accident become 56% more likely to die when the teenage driver has a teen passenger in the car. Any cyclists or pedestrians in the wreck also become 17% more likely to die because the teen driver had a teen passenger.
How older passengers affect fatal accident rates
While teen passengers have a negative impact on roadway safety when they ride alongside teen drivers, studies show that older passengers have a positive one. Passengers 35 and older cut the risk of a teen driver-involved car accident proving fatal by 8%.
Parents of young drivers may want to supervise their teens behind the wheel until they have more experience. They may also want to set guidelines about who their teens may have in their cars and when.