Filed under: Safety, First Drive
AAA: Teen crashes cost society $34 billion per year
Nobody would argue that the potential for lost-life is the worst thing about teen crashes, but the related monetary expenses are also rather staggering. AAA estimates that teen crashes ended up costing more than $34 billion annually in medical expenses, lost work, property damage, quality of life loss and other related costs in 2006 alone. According to AAA, fifteen to seventeen year-old drivers were involved in nearly a million crashes in 2006, injuring 406,427 people and killing 2,541. Each fatality carries an average cost of $3.841 million while injury accidents post an average of $50,512. According to their research, AAA suggests that states should take up graduated driver licensing strategies, which they say are proven to reduce fatal crashes involving teen drivers by an average of 38 percent. Browse through the press release after the break for the whole set of sad statistics.
[Source: AAA]
PRESS RELEASE
AAA calls for improved graduated driver licensing to counter nearly one
million crashes involving 15- to 17-year-olds annually
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2008 -- A first-ever analysis from AAA finds that
crashes involving teen drivers ages 15 to 17 cost American society more
than $34 billion annually in medical expenses, lost work, property damage,
quality of life loss and other related costs in 2006.
"The impact of a teen crash extends beyond the emotional tragedies and
physical injury at the crash scene, with costs that can extend to
employers, families, the government and society overall," said AAA
President and CEO Robert L. Darbelnet. "These economic figures provide one
more reason for legislators to improve graduated driver licensing in their
states - a proven measure governments can take to reduce the deadly toll of
teen driver crashes."
Comprehensive graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems ease teens into
driving through a combination of mandatory practice and limited driving at
night and with peer passengers. Comprehensive GDL systems have been shown
to reduce fatal crashes involving teen drivers by an average of 38 percent.
AAA is a leading advocate for teen driver safety issues and remains
committed to encouraging states to improve upon their graduated driver
licensing (GDL) systems.
According to the analysis conducted by the Pacific Institute for
Research and Evaluation for AAA, drivers ages 15 to 17 in 2006 were
involved in about 974,000 crashes, injuring 406,427 people and killing
2,541.
The $34.4 billion cost in 2006 included $9.8 billion in cost from fatal
crashes, with an average cost of $3.841 million per fatality. Injury
crashes averaged $50,512, with their large numbers producing a total cost
of $20.5 billion - more than twice the cost of fatal crashes. Property
damage crashes accounted for the remaining $4.1 billion in cost.
"Some of these costs are paid directly by government through Medicaid,
police, paramedics and courts. Many other costs - like lost wages, traffic
delay and reduced quality of life - don't show up directly, but also
reflect the very large, very real cost of crashes involving teen drivers,"
said Darbelnet. "States that improve their graduated driver licensing
programs will reduce crashes, injuries, and deaths for road users of all
ages and reduce crash-related costs that are paid by the state, too."
The cost of teen crashes was calculated using modeling that researchers
at PIRE have used for economic analysis for the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration. The analysis draws upon a broad range of databases
and research involving crashes, injury types, medical costs by state and
more.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chris 7:34AM (4/10/2008)
yeah I know that some teens are pretty damn hazardous behind the wheels but I would much prefer to see the numbers broken out by age and sex all the way through seventy or eighty.
I would also like to see break outs between number of miles driven and age.
Otherwise it can be just another hype article to support one cause or another
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Donald 7:51AM (4/10/2008)
How about states stop with the Cinderella licenses. It never made sense to me to limit a teens time on the road, lessening his driving experience during the day and completely eliminating any night driving experience, while still charge the same insurance rate as if he was driving 24-7.
This coupled with the continuing trend of eliminating high school driver education, which only has the long-term effect of increasing the number of poorly educated drivers on the road each year.
Yeah, I know, there are maturity issues when dealing with teens and cars, but I can't help but think we're seeing an increase in accidents and monetary damages taking place as these programs become increasingly popular across the country.
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Someone 7:57AM (4/10/2008)
As a foreign (Portuguese) and while I understand the huge distances and lack of decent public transportation in the US, I still belive that handing out licenses to 16 year olds is just asking for it. I mean, as a 22 year old that is driving every day since I was 18 I still consider myself a dangerous driver. I'm reckless, I speed a lot, and I find myself "racing" others while driving. I strive not to put others in danger but i'm still a dumb teen and I know it. Giving licenses to EVERYONE who can remember the pedal to go and the one to stop at 16 IS A BAD IDEA!
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info 9:01AM (4/10/2008)
Not only that. Why isn't there any appropriate driver education in the US. There is something fundamentally wrong when it is legal for a kids 80 year old grandma to be the driving instructor and to do most of the driver education. The driving tests are equally ridiculous when the most difficult part of the test is parallell parking. Driver education in the US is the blind leading the blind, its a joke.
Disgruntled Goat 10:54AM (4/10/2008)
We live in a democracy and giving licenses at 16 with no real training is what the people want. There's no conspiracy here and if enough wanted it changed it would be changed.
If you try to raise the driving age everybody cries about how much of a burden it is to the parents and unfair to the kids because THEIR kid is a great driver, it's everyone elses kid that's the problem.
Driving school costs money and everybody wants something for free. We pay less in taxes than just about any industrialized nation yet all you hear is b1tchin about how screwed over we are. Our streets crumble, our schools have outdated textbooks and low test scores, and there's not enough police to patrol the streets, but if you try to address any of those by suggesting people pay more in taxes the outrage begins.
If you don't like the driving laws, the poor test scores, the lack of police, the crumbling bridges, etc. then be willing to pay for. Otherwise just sit back and cork it.
info 11:36AM (4/10/2008)
>>> If you don't like the driving laws, the poor test scores, the lack of police, the crumbling bridges, etc. then be willing to pay for. Otherwise just sit back and cork it.
info 11:59AM (4/10/2008)
I don't know what happened to my other post.
Where did I say anything about not being willing to pay for it? I have a German driver license which currently costs about €2,000 ($3,000) to make. Yes it's a ton of money, but you learn more than just how to parallel park.
Your remark regarding living in a democracy and people wanting their kids to drive at 16 is a totally invalid argument. There are a lot of things that people want, yet cannot because they are illegal. If the driving age were to be raised to 18, there wouldn't be any great uproar just as there wasn't when the drinking age was raised to 21. The fact remains that the teenage driving problem is increased by having uneducated 16 and 17 year old drivers operating vehicles that they are too immature to do so. The two easily available measures to lessen accidents and fatalities is by better education, meaning real driver training, and raising the age at which one is allowed to drive. There is a reason why the traffic fatalities per 100,000 miles driven are substantially higher in the US than in Germany where over 50% of the Autobahn is without speed limits.
FThorn 8:01AM (4/10/2008)
They just need to start driving earlier. Then pre-teen crashes will drive down the teen crashes costing us more.
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compy386 8:13AM (4/10/2008)
This statistic sounds loaded. $3.841 million per fatality? They have to be counting all the profit earnings potential by the teens as loss to society. If that were the case, then one could argue that having children benefits society by over $4 million per child. I doubt they did any proper discounting or analysis on this. It sounds sensationalized.
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mikeyt 8:14AM (4/10/2008)
i agree with chris, these numbers mean nothing to me without comparison. i'm sure they are higher than other 3 year ranges, but thats as obvious as a headline: "shocking: beginners not as good as experienced veterans!"
perhaps healthcare, legal, and infrastructure costs play a bigger role in the "big picture" ?
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Corey W. 8:34AM (4/10/2008)
It would be interesting to see how many were really accidents and how many were reckless driving. I have a 15 yr old, so I see these kids driving everyday, and it doesn't look like inexperience, it looks like not taking the privilege seriously. IMO it should go like this:
- 14 Yrs: Learning Permit - Can drive 6AM - 10PM (must always have adult passenger)
- 16 Yrs. Junior License - Can drive 6AM - 10PM (must have adult passenger after 6PM)
- 18 Yrs. Regular License - Standard driving privileges (God help us!!!)
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0mega 9:06AM (4/10/2008)
Ugh. Stupid teenage drivers
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0mega 9:06AM (4/10/2008)
Okay half my post vanished so here it is again?
I'm 18, a car nut, but don't have my license yet... Why? Can't afford driving school. I care too much about cars to want to risk ruining mine. And I don't plan on buying a beater either. Something I like will make me want to take care of it, rather than a cheap throw away.
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Joshua 9:29AM (4/10/2008)
I don't know about the rest of the world, but I think it is too easy to get a license in North America. It really has nothing to do with age, and more about being new to driving and quality of government testing.
I'm in Canada, and I didn't study for G1 (written) which took under 5 minutes and got perfect at 16 yrs old. My G2 (driven) test took 5 minutes and my full G (driven) took 8 minutes.
I had countless exams in high school exceeding 2 hours on useless things like Shakespeare and To Kill a Mockingbird, yet, for me to get my full driver's permit it took me under 20 minutes for all 3 government tests.
Even if you raise the age of when you can get a license, there will still be the same problem... new drivers need to be more educated and should have more strict testing.
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Donald 9:35AM (4/10/2008)
While I agree the testing in North America is painfully inadequate, to hear Shakespeare and To Kill A Mockingbird referred to as "useless" only reminds me why American Idol is the top form of entertainment.
Dan 10:56AM (4/10/2008)
Reading should be a joy. Reading the right things is a joy.
Forcing archaic, boring drivel like Shakespeare on teenagers at what amounts to gunpoint has done more to keep them out of the libraries in their adult lives than all the shows on the idiot box put together.
Like taking someone who has never tasted alcohol before, starting them off on shots of Laphroaig, and then wondering why they never drink again.
xspeedy 9:32AM (4/10/2008)
How much does it cost society given accidents of senior citizens? Aren't seniors the ones we usually hear about driving through the front windows of a shops and stores because they forgot which pedal was the brake and which was the gas?
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IdiotTeenStreetRacer 9:32AM (4/10/2008)
Here's an Idea... increase driving age to 25, totally remove us stupid street racing punks from getting our licence at an immature age. If we want to get around, we will just ask our mommy to drive us to where we wanna go. If they don't then we will cry because it is our fault for all the crashes us idiot teen drivers have caused.
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David W. 1:59PM (4/10/2008)
PLEASE tell me that was sarcasm...
VW JUNKY 9:53AM (4/10/2008)
Beter instructions would help and tougher testing needs to be applied, I think Germany has a strick way of getting a licence, maybe we could do that but at a ealier age, people are going to drive and starting ealier or later won't matter much as it is still how many hours behind the wheel. Like a pilot they have to have so many hours of training and flying time to fly certain aircraft.
In 1982 I got my license at 16. Drove my mom's 1972 Olds Delta 88 4 door! Real big tank but could fit 6 people easily. I used to cut my grandparents lawn when I could reach the pedals on the riding mower.
I think that really help me learn to drive. I also got to drive the cars around my grandparents yard that had a big oval driveway.
That too was a good lesson in driving. When I was 16 I got to drive my parents and everyone else around and they were real comfortable with me driving and I even drove from North Carolina to NYC a few
times with just me and my sister when I was 17 she was 15! I think
getting started early in life from the little electric cars, riding mowers and such helps with driving when you get your license. I even drove big farm tractors when I was 12 on the road.
My sister on the other had did not cut the grass or really care about
driving until she was 16 and was a very scary driver. Right now I
have a 2 and 4 year old. I have a good size yard to let the kids
roam around in there peddle and electric cars. When they get older
they will cut the grass on a riding mower and we will move up to go
carts and such. As a parent I want to prepare my kids for the real
world as much as I can. I might cringe when they drive at 16 but I have to let them try as they will be out the door soon and on there own, hopefully with a little knowledge and respect for the road and others around them.
Later,
E
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