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Young Driver Safety Research

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Teens and Cars: Driving Toward a Safer World

Young drivers ages 16-20 years are at a disproportionately high risk for both fatal and non-fatal crashes, with the highest per capita and per-mile-driven crash rate of any age group. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of teen deaths, accounting for 44% of teen fatalities in the U.S.

If these crash fatalities continue without intervention, 100,000 adolescents and young adults will die in young driver crashes (drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 years) in the U.S. over the next 10 years.

Researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention are investigating ways to reduce these projected numbers.

Our current areas of concentration include:

• Conducting rigorous qualitative and quantitative studies involving teens and parents to characterize the driving experience and behaviors of teens
• Analyzing crash data for insights into teen driver-involved crashes
• Conducting and analyzing large-scale surveys of driver-aged teens and their parents on teen and parent relationships, driving and other risk behaviors
• Validating the use of the National Advanced Driving Simulator at the University of Iowa for young driver research, and
• Discovering how to use the simulator to assess the different ways that newly licensed teens drive, and what can be done to help them drive more safely.

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Young Driver Research Projects

• Young Driver Research Initiative (YDRI)

  The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania, and State Farm, the same academic-industry alliance that leads Partners for Child Passenger Safety, have joined together to address the urgent need to advance science to reduce death and injury from young driver-related crashes. The complexity of the "teen driver problem" requires a multifaceted, multidisciplinary approach that addresses not only concerns about driving, but also the parent-teen relationship, peer relationships among teens, and issues around adolescent, cognitive, and emotional development. This multidisciplinary research initiative uses a scientifically rigorous teen-centered approach to research with the end goal of launching a comprehensive outreach and education initiative proven to reduce young driver crashes. The alliance also hosts a website for parents of teen drivers and drivers-to-be: www.chop.edu/youngdrivers .

• Research With Teens in the National Advance Driving Simulator (NADS)

  Research with young drivers involving the National Advance Driving Simulator (NADS) Project, the largest and most advanced ground vehicle simulator in the world, is underway through a collaboration between The Center for Injury Research and Prevention and The Center for Virtual Proving Ground Simulation at the University of Iowa. Through the CChIPS grant, The Center for Injury Research and Prevention has undertaken the task of evaluating the driving simulator's effectiveness at replicating the real-world driving experience for young drivers. If NADS is determined to be a valid method, Center researchers will be able to use the simulator to compare differences in driving performance and risk-taking behaviors among newly licensed teens and thereby inform scientifically-based interventions to reduce young drivers' crash risk.

  More information on the National Advanced Driving Simulator

• National Annenberg Risk Survey of Youth (NARSY)

  The Center for Injury Research and Prevention collects data on teen driving experiences as part of the NARSY, a landmark survey conducted annually since 2002 by the Adolescent Risk Communications Institute of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at The University of Pennsylvania. Through over 900 telephone interviews with 14-22 year olds annually, the survey addresses this demographic's media use, school activities and environment, engagement in risk-taking behaviors (gambling, smoking, drug and alcohol use, speeding), and attitudes and risk perceptions regarding those behaviors, perceived social norms, sensation seeking. It also contains a range of demographic factors. Data from NARSY provide Center researchers with a clear picture of the demographic, attitudinal and behavioral risk factors that affect young drivers, and allow comparisons between the attitudes of pre-driving teens with those of older teens and young adults in regard to behaviors such as seatbelt use and driving after drinking.

  More information on the National Annenberg Risk Survey and APPC's research into adolescent risk

• Partners for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS)

  A unique research partnership between our Center, the University of Pennsylvania and State Farm®, PCPS provides a rich bank of data on demographic and environmental factors in crashes involving children younger than 16 in which teens were driving. PCPS found that children driven by teens have a much higher risk of serious injury in a crash, are much more likely to ride unrestrained or inappropriately restrained, and are more likely to ride in the front seat. PCPS is engaged in an ongoing effort to isolate and mitigate the risk factors associated with teenage driving. Also visit the PCPS interactive site for parents in English and Spanish at www.chop.edu/carseat .