Taking your life in their young hands

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 16, 1998 | by Anne Veigle

States are looking for ways to remedy the biggest danger on our roads: teen-age drivers. More are adopting the use of `graduated' licenses.

Merging onto Washington's infamous Beltway at the beginning of the evening rush hour, 16-year-old Jason Barnard clicks on his turn signal, accelerates and eases the car into oncoming traffic. "Focus on what is going on beyond the vehicle in front of you," advises Craig Schmoldt, Jason's driving instructor. "Maintain your speed on the lane changes."

Jason is looking forward to getting his license. "I'm the last one," he says. "All of my other friends have their licenses." More than just a rite of passage, a driver's license gives teenagers their freedom -- and parents their freedom from torturous schedules that require them to spend half the day on the road shuttling their kids from event to event.

But with freedom comes responsibility. Despite Jason's deft handling of the car so far, statistics show that within six months of getting his license, he is likely to take risks, even though he will be lacking in the critical skills that only experience can provide.

"Once they get their license, it's much more difficult to get teen-agers to listen to you," says Susan Ferguson, vice president of research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit group based in Arlington, Va., that tracks motor-vehicle injuries and deaths.

Data show that 16-year-olds are the most dangerous drivers on the road. According to government statistics, 16-year-old drivers:

* Have the highest fatality rates of all age groups;

* Make more mistakes that lead to deadly crashes; and

* Cause more deaths by speeding and traveling with multiple passengers of all age groups.

In 1996 (the latest figures available from the Department of Transportation), 5,805 of the 41,907 people killed in car crashes were teen-agers; 82 percent of 16-year-olds in fatal crashes made, at least one mistake that contributed to the wreck.

Some critics believe the problem lies with state departments of motor vehicles, which they say hand out driver's licenses with only minimal training -- most of it confined to the classroom.

"A lot of parents succumb to the pressure of kids who demand to get their licenses," says Don Barrack, manager of the Easy Method school in Kensington, Ky. "Some people say 16 is too young. I disagree totally, but I do agree that there are some 16-year-olds who shouldn't drive."

Some states are adopting "graduated" licensing, a system that restricts licensed drivers younger than 18 from certain activities. The practice is popular in Europe and other places, and research shows that such policies result in fewer fatal crashes among teen-agers.

New Zealand, for example, imposes restrictions, including driving curfews, on new drivers. An adult must be present if young drivers carry other passengers in a car. The rules also put a stricter limit on blood-alcohol content for beginning drivers. Similar strictures have been introduced in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire and North Carolina, but it's too soon to determine if the new laws are lowering accident and death rates.

Teen-agers face many peer pressures, of course, compounded by increasingly difficult driving conditions. Schmoldt, the driving instructor working with Jason, routinely takes his students on the crowded and hectic Beltway to practice their skills.

"The Beltway seems easier in some ways," Jason says, after guiding his car onto the superhighway. Schmoldt agrees. On major highways, drivers can concentrate solely on lane changes and following distances, he says. On regular highways, drivers must watch for stoplights, pedestrians and any number of unexpected events.

New drivers' biggest weaknesses? Experts say they have most difficulty judging speed and stopping distances and inadequate peripheral vision. "What happens is, teen-agers just don't see things," says Ferguson, who remembers her own daughter complaining about how "unbelievable" the drivers were when she first got her license. When she heard a neighbor's son make the same complaint, she realized that the teen-agers simply weren't anticipating the things that experienced drivers take for granted.

"I think it takes a good two to three years before a driver is fully experienced," says Ferguson. Until then, she recommends that parents put limits on when and where teen-agers can drive.

RELATED ARTICLE: Help Online for Teens (and Adults) on the Road

Dr. Mike About Teens, an advice column, can be found at the Parents Place World Wide Web site (www.parentsplace. com/readroom/authors/riera). The site contains chat rooms with categories targeted at parents of teenagers.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which lobbies state legislatures for stricter punishments for alcohol-impaired drivers, maintains an Internet site (www.madd.org) full of information -- and horror stories -- about teen drivers. Local chapters list names, phone numbers and addresses of people who are willing to speak in public on the subject of teen driving.