Teen accident rates are much higher than the rates for most other age groups. Annually, teenagers may not cause the highest total of fatal accidents – they make up a very small percentage of total drivers – but they do tend to have the highest fatality rates. This means that they are causing these serious crashes much more often than they should.
Various steps have been taken to address this over the years. Driver’s training is the most obvious example, as instructors focus on getting teens prepared and providing them with driving experience before they have to drive on their own. Teens are also required to drive with their parents for a certain amount of time. Some of them will face restrictions regarding things like driving at night or driving with friends in the car.
But, despite all these measures, the accident rate remains high. Why is this?
Teens are inexperienced drivers
The problem is that teens are inexperienced and haven’t been driving for very long. When people are inexperienced with any complicated skill, from rock climbing to playing the trumpet, they’re going to make more mistakes as they learn.
Teenagers are just in this same stage with their driving abilities. They will get better with time, as teens gain more experience, but they will cause accidents in the meantime. It’s very difficult to ever fully prevent these accidents because teenagers just need time behind the wheel so that they can become safer drivers in their 20s and 30s.
As a result, you could suffer serious injuries in an accident that a teenager causes. If so, you need to know how to seek financial compensation for your medical bills and related costs.