Look-Out Drivers - Here They Come!
I don’t enjoy travel like I used to. Planes are too scary for me, since many of them are older than I am. My last bus trip involved some very drunk passengers who behaved nauseatingly (and I mean that literally. Yuck!). Finally, it takes too long and costs too much to go by car.
The cost of traveling has increased exponentially over the last several years. First, the price of fuel has been growing by leaps and bounds. UGH! Secondly, insurance rates have zoomed up - partly due to all the uninsured motorists on the road, and partly due to the growing number of DUI fatalities and teenaged driver accidents. Financial issues not withstanding, there is a much more important cost here - loss of human life.
With the yearly publicity about the annual carnage on America’s highways during each 4th of July weekend, teenage drivers are in the news again.
Did you know that automobile accidents are the #1 cause of death of teenagers?
More shocking statistics reveal:
- 14% of all deaths due to motor vehicle accidents are teen drivers.
- Most teen driver deaths due to motor vehicle accidents occur on weekends 53% of the time.
- Teen drivers killed in motor vehicle accidents had a youth passenger in automobile 45% of the time.
- Of teen drivers fatally injured in automobiles, more than 1/3 were speed related accidents.
- Teen lifestyle of staying up late make teen drivers a high risk to have an automobile accident due to drowsiness.
- More than any age group, teens are likely to be involved in a single vehicle crash.
- On the basis of current population trends, there will be 23% more 16-20-year-old drivers on the road in 2010 than there are today — 26.1 million.
- The 16-year-old population alone will increase from 3.5 million to over 4 million by 2010.
To get a learner’s permit students are generally required to take a driver education class that includes both classroom time and driving time with an authorized instructor. But NOT ANYMORE!
Nowadays, teenage students don’t even have to leave the comfort of home, because they can take driver education classes ONLINE! This is a burgeoning industry, with more companies starting everyday - but is this a GOOD thing? I don’t think so!
One of the main reasons for teenage accidents is lack of experience behind the wheel. It takes time and practice to develop the psychomotor skills (hand/eye coordination) to become a safe driver. Moving around a mouse, even if it simulates driving, is no substitute for SUPERVISED practice, practice, practice. Only through hands-on experience can teens learn to respond quickly and safely to unexpected hazards. Or to concentrate enough to block-out distractions, like conversations with their fellow teenaged passengers.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that these schools may not be the best resources for our young people.
One business lists their main faculty member as having a degree from the University of Latvia. (Don’t they drive on the opposite side of the road without any speed limits?)
Another brags about how simple-minded their curriculum is:
“With new teen drivers in mind, we keep our course easy to use and understand.”
Like it or not, we need to get ready for a massive new group of drivers that have not spent enough time behind the wheel to be safe. Added to the terrible drivers that already make any sane person leery and defensive, it will soon be evident whether this new trend is effective or just contributes to an increasing death toll.
Either way, LOOK OUT DRIVERS - HERE THEY COME!
Brennan
Concerned Grammy/driver
Filed under: Education News
car driver insurance teen
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The problem is teenagers are in too much of a rush to get on the roads and have no concept of the dangers of driving. There is no room for error on the roads these days and the next one might well be your last.
We have the same problem here over Baku. Young teenagers trying to show off them self buying speedy cars and making crazy things on the roads, some of them even do not know the rules very well, some of them do not care about it. At the of the day we have nearly a couple of crashes every single day, that is for sure. Due to there careless actions other people life are affected. We should be very careful on the roads, but sometime you can not do anything at all, it is a matter of the seconds before actual crash happen you most probably will not be able to do anything if somebody just hit your car. It is worth to think about insurance, especially about car and life insurance in this case. Great Blog!