National campaign promotes teen driver safety

National Teen Driver Safety Week kicks off Oct. 14 with a national campaign aimed at preventing vehicle deaths and injuries among young drivers.

Sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the week-long campaign focuses on the most pressing and persistent problems facing teen driving. Drivers between the ages of 15 and 20 years-old are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers, the NHTSA recently stated.

National campaigns for the event are focused on increasing seat belt use, implementing graduated driver licensing, reducing teen access to alcohol and parental responsibility. Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American teens, according to NHTSA statistics.

NHTSA research points to inexperience and immaturity combined with a host of other factors endemic to teen drivers—speed, drinking and driving, not wearing seat belts, distracted driving (cell phone uses, loud music, other teen passengers), driving at night, drowsy driving and drug or alcohol usage.

For more information about teens and distracted driving visit the NHTSA website at http://www.nhtsa.gov/Teen-Drivers.