Young Drivers |
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There were 198.9 million licensed drivers in the United States in 2004 (2005 data not available). Young drivers, between 15 and 20 years old, accounted for 6.3 percent (12.5 million) of the total, a 6.2-percent increase from the 11.8 million young drivers in 1994.
In 2005, 7,460 15- to 20-year-old drivers were involved in fatal crashes – a 7-percent decrease from the 7,979 involved in 1995. Driver fatalities for this age group increased by 4 percent between 1995 and 2005. For young males, driver fatalities rose by 5 percent, compared with a 1-percent decrease for young females (Table 1). Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds (based on 2003 figures, which are the latest mortality data currently available from the National Center for Health Statistics). In 2005, 3,467 15- to 20-year-old drivers were killed and an additional 281,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes. Figure 1
Table 1
In 2005, 12.6 percent (7,460) of all the drivers involved in fatal crashes (59,104) were young drivers age 15 to 20 years old, and 16 percent (1,699,000) of all drivers involved in police-reported crashes (10,832,000) were young drivers.
Table 2
Among 15- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2005, 30 percent (365) of those who did not have valid operator’s licenses at the time of the crash also had previous license suspensions or revocations (Table 3). For the same age group, 28 percent of the drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes during 2005 had been drinking (Table 4). Table 3
Motorcycles
During 2005, 326 young motorcycle operators (15-20 years old) were killed and an additional 9,000 were injured. Helmets are estimated to be 37-percent effective in preventing fatalities among motorcyclists. NHTSA estimates that helmets saved the lives of 1,546 motorcyclists of all ages in 2005, and that if all motorcyclists had worn helmets, an additional 728 lives could have been saved. During 2005, 32 percent of the motorcycle drivers between 15 and 20 years old who were fatally injured in crashes were not wearing helmets. Of the young motorcycle drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2005, more than one-third (40%) were either unlicensed or driving with an invalid license. Alcohol
A motor vehicle crash is considered to be alcohol-related if at least one driver or nonoccupant (such as a pedestrian or pedalcyclist) involved in the crash is determined to have had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .01 gram per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. Thus, any fatality that occurs in an alcohol-related crash is considered an alcohol-related fatality. The term “alcohol-related” does not indicate that a crash or fatality was caused by the presence of alcohol. In 2005, 23 percent of the young drivers (15 to 20 years old) who were killed in crashes had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher. Table 4
Table 5
The severity of a crash increases with alcohol involvement. In 2005, 2 percent of the 15- to 20-year-old drivers involved in property-damage-only crashes had been drinking, 4 percent of those involved in crashes resulting in injury had been drinking, and 21 percent of those involved in fatal crashes had been drinking. The percentage of 15- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes who had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher dropped by 7 percent between 1995 and 2005.
For young drivers (15 to 20 years old), alcohol involvement is higher among males than among females. In 2005, 24 percent of the young male drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking at the time of the crash, compared with 12 percent of the young female drivers involved in fatal crashes. Drivers are less likely to use restraints when they have been drinking. In 2005, 64 percent of the young drivers of passenger vehicles involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking were unrestrained. Of the young drivers who had been drinking and were killed in crashes, 74 percent were unrestrained. All States and the District of Columbia now have 21-year-old minimum drinking age laws. NHTSA estimates that these laws have reduced traffic fatalities involving drivers 18 to 20 years old by 13 percent and have saved an estimated 24,560 lives since 1975. In 2005, an estimated 823 lives were saved by minimum drinking age laws. Figure 2
Table 6 - Fatalities in Crashes Involving Young Drivers (Ages 15-20) by State and Fatality Type, 2005
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