Garrick InfangerArmstrong Forensic Engineers
Distracted driving is now a hot topic among both legislators and the press. Should car accidents resulting from texting be treated as a crime? Are anti-texting laws and service announcements effective?
Georgia's July 1, 2010 ban of texting while driving makes it one of 30 states with similar laws. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that there is some debate as to whether texting laws actually increase the rate of accidents as people attempt to text out of sight from police, actually furthering their attention from the roadway.
Utah recently passed a new law that penalizes drivers who text to the same degree as drivers who drink and drive. The New York Times reports, "In effect, a crash caused by such a multitasking motorist is no longer considered an 'accident' like one caused by a driver who, say, runs into another car because he nodded off at the wheel. Instead, such a crash would now be considered inherently reckless."
Even Oprah has gotten in on the debate with a campaign titled the "No Phone Zone." What else leads teen drivers into accidents? Should we be looking at other "novice driving" mistakes?
Teenagers are notoriously bad drivers, accounting for 10 times as many crashes as middled-aged ones. But short of keeping them off the road entirely, is there a way to make their driving safer - for them and for the rest of us?New research suggests that there is. A nationally representative sample of more than 800 crashes involving teenage drivers shows that almost two-thirds were due not to reckless behavior like speeding or joyriding but to three novice driving mistakes: failing to scan the road, misjudging driving conditions and becoming distracted.Focusing on these three common mistakes could go a long way in improving teenage driving and reducing fatalities, said an author of the report, Dr. Dennis Durbin, co-director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
With the encouraging news that truck-related fatalities continue to decrease, we can hope the state of teen drivers also improves with time.
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Garrick Infanger writes for the Forensic Engineering Hub, an engineering-focused blog sponsored by Armstrong Forensic Engineers.
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Photo Credit: Stuart Bradford
Their are many things are resposible when we come to teen crashes,
ReplyDelete1) Inexperience
2) Early hours driving
3) Cell phones
4) Texting
5) More concentration on avilable gadgets on car, like music etc...
6) speed driving.
That's exactly what the research shows. 2/3 of crashes are due to: Failing to scan the road (largely due to inexperience but also due to cognitive differences between younger drivers, especially males), misjudging driving conditions (again, inexperience and cognitive issues), and distraction (3, 4, & 5).
ReplyDeleteDriving late at night/early in the morning doesn't _cause_ anything. Its strongly correlated with other errors.
Of the 1/3 that are not accounted for by scanning errors, judgement errors, and distraction, I'm sure speeding ranks reasonably high on the list.