A teen driving with other teens is deadlier for everyone on the road

While it may seem a bit obvious to most of us that

teen drivers

driving around with teen passengers is a more dangerous proposition than them driving solo or with parents, what’s not as obvious is how huge a difference that really makes.

AAA conducted a study of traffic collisions

involving teen drivers, and the organization discovered that the rate of

fatal injuries

increased by a whopping 51 percent when the teen driver had teenage passengers versus when teen drivers were driving solo. Even more shocking, that fatality rate was an increase for

all

people involved, including the teenage occupants, occupants in other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.

Breaking down that overall 51 percent rating, we find that the people most at risk of teens driving with teens are other motorists, who are 56 percent more likely to be killed than if they were hit by a solo teen. The teen driver is 45 percent more likely to be killed, and pedestrians and cyclists are 17 percent more likely to be killed. Furthermore, the AAA study discovered that the fatality rate in teen collisions increases by a factor of nearly four when at night or when speeding is a factor.

AAA does suggest a number of ways to help prevent teen drivers from being in these risky situations. The main key is to just keep your teen from driving with other teenage drivers for as long as possible. The organization recommends getting at least 100 hours of driving time with a parent onboard before letting a teen drive solo, and not having more than one teen as a passenger for at least 6 months. As it so happens, many states have requirements similar to these recommendations as part of getting a driver’s permit or license.

Further incentive for keeping only experienced drivers in the passenger seat early on is that AAA found the fatality rate in collisions drops 8 percent when there’s a passenger over 35 instead of a teen driving solo. And of course, AAA recommends spending lots of time practicing driving with your teenage driver, starting with easy situations to get

used to the car

, and gradually ramping up.

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