Car Accidents and Teens

It is dangerous for a teen to drive. It's even more dangerous to be a teenage passenger in a vehicle driven by a teenage driver. Most deaths in motor vehicle accidents involving a teenage driver (ages 15 to20) find that the passengers are also teens.

Unfortunately the most dangerous age for a driver is sixteen, the same age that most people get their first driver's license. Drivers in this age group is more likely to be involved in a deadly motor vehicle accident than any other age group.

The combination of a new teen driver and even one more passenger of the same age is a deadly combination. The distraction rate rises in direct proportion to the number of additional passengers. The possibility of a distraction-caused accident is almost guaranteed. Thus a carload of teens is a deadly accident waiting to happen.

Should there be some kind of restrictions prohibiting new drivers having same-age (or younger) passengers within the first year of obtaining their license? If the laws don't address this danger, then perhaps it is up to parents to place some limitations on their teen drivers.