The Problem of Young Driver Safety - Essay Example

Should teens be allowed to drive Introduction The problem of young driver safety is well documented in terms of the size and nature of the problem. It is well established, for example, that young drivers play a disproportionately large role in traffic crashes. In U.S., 16- to 24-year-olds comprise about 20% of the driving population but account for around 35% of fatal and 50% of injury crashes (Macdonald, 1994). The situation in many countries, including the U.K. and Canada, is similar to that in U.S.: Young drivers are more likely to be injured or killed than their more experienced counterparts, due to which it is recommended that parents should think twice before allowing their teenage kids to drive. The young novice driver problem is often considered to stem from two main factors, age and inexperience. This distinction between age and inexperience corresponds to what several authors have termed driving style (or behavior) and driving skill (or performance). Driving skill, which is expected to improve with practice or training, is concerned with performance limitations on aspects of the driving task, such as the time taken to respond to traffic hazards. Driving style relates to decision-making aspects of driving -- that is, the manner in which people chooses to drive or driving habits that have developed over time. Such choices may include, for instance, driving speed and how close one drives to the car in front. Adolescents and young adults are at high risk of injury and death from motor vehicle accidents. Rates of death in motor vehicle crashes peak at age 16 and remain elevated through age 35. With the exception of the elderly, drivers ages 15-35 are the most likely to be involved in, to be drivers in and to lose their lives in a motor vehicle crash. Adolescents represented 7% of all drivers, but were drivers in 15% of fatal crashes and 18% of police-reported crashes in 1999. Experienced young adult drivers also have high rates of motor vehicle crashes and fatalities (NCIPC, 2000), with drivers ages 21-34 representing 26% of all drivers but accounting for 31% of fatal crashes in 1999. Alcohol involvement was recorded in 3% of property damage crashes, 5% of injury crashes and 22% of fatal crashes of drivers ages 15-20 in 2000 (NCIPC, 2000). Risky driving and serious driving outcomes are associated with many driver characteristics such as inexperience, emotional states, risky driving attitudes, thrill seeking, personality factors and substance use. Alcohol accounts for the largest portion of substance-related motor vehicle crashes among young adults; nonsubstance-related risky driving behaviors (e.g., tailgating, speeding, other risky driving) also contribute to high injury and fatal crash rates among young drivers. Although few longitudinal studies have examined the developmental precursors of risky driving, available research does provide evidence of a longitudinal association between problem behaviors and problem driving practices such as drunk driving. High rates of motor vehicle crashes and the scarcity of longitudinal studies of young risky drivers highlight the need for research on these topics. Problem Behavior Theory and risky driving Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) provides a framework for examining environmental, personality and behavioral precursors of risky driving. PBT classifies behavior as conventional (i.e., socially prescribed/encouraged) or problem behavior (i.e., socially proscribed/prohibited behavior) and recognizes that problem behaviors tend to co-occur within individuals, resulting in a "problem behavior syndrome." During adolescence, problem behavior includes both age-graded (i.e., proscribed for adolescents but not adults) and generally prohibited behaviors (i.e., illegal behaviors). But "problem behavior" is not restricted to adolescence (Donovan, 1993). Involvement in socially proscribed behavior occurs among people of all ages, allowing PBT to be applied to nonadolescent samples. PBT recognizes five systems of variables. Three of these systems--the perceived environment system, personality system and behavior system--will be examined in this study. Substance use and problem driving are included in the behavior system. PBT has been used to model risky driving among adolescents and young adults and to predict young adult risky driving from adolescent problem behavior (Donovan, 1993). High-risk driving and other problem behaviors co-occur. Greater use of substances--including cigarette smoking, smokeless tobacco use, alcohol use, heavy drinking and marijuana use--is associated with riding with drinking drivers and with increased rates of drinking driving, traffic offenses and motor vehicle crashes. Personality and perceived environment systems Variables in the perceived environment and personality systems provide motivation for involvement in or avoidance of problem behaviors, including risky driving. The personality system includes perceptions of society, others and self and attachment to or alliance with conventional social institutions (e.g., family, school, religion, the legal system, social expectations) and the values they represent, which are related to increased or decreased conventional and problem behavior. Research supports the role of the personality system in risky driving, showing an association with hostility, alienation from the educational system, low school grades and poor educational achievement (Murray, 1998). The perceived environment system includes influences from the social and physical environment, such as parental attitudes, parenting behaviors and peer influences. Research has shown consistent associations between poor driving outcomes and parental factors. Low parental monitoring and unrestricted driving are associated with drinking and driving and with higher rates of adolescent risky driving; greater parental permissiveness predicts more offenses and crashes. Although not embedded within PBT, gender has consistently been shown to moderate psychosocial characteristics and problem behaviors, including risky driving. Gender differences have been demonstrated in the associations between parental monitoring, substance use , drinking driving and riding with a drinking driver. Research on driving skill indicates that compared with more experienced drivers, novice drivers' performance is inferior in several ways, attentional control (e.g., attending to the right things, in the right amounts, at the right time), time-sharing (e.g., resource management and attention switching while undertaking two or more concurrent tasks), and calibration (e.g., matching one's performance with the task demands). There is also some evidence that younger drivers are more likely to adopt a risky driving style than are older drivers. A relationship has been found between youth and leaving shorter distances to the car in front (Evans & Wasielewski, 1983), adopting a faster driving speed (Wasielewski, 1984), accepting narrower gaps when entering traffic, and running yellow lights. The concept of a subgroup of "young problem drivers" is often advocated in the literature. In 1993, for example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) prepared a report to the U.S. Congress on young driver safety. It suggested that although there is good reason to develop general countermeasures for young drivers because of the overall risk of that group, all young drivers are not equivalent, and some subgroups merit special consideration because of their increased risk. Part of the research agenda of NHTSA is to determine the effectiveness of educational and other programs that are designed for specific young driver subtypes (U. S. NHTSA, 1993). Concerning road safety, drunk driving is the area in which population subtypes have been identified most successfully. For example, researchers have identified a number of driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) offender subtypes, defined by specific biographic and personality variables, who could be the target for prevention or intervention programs. The identification of driver subtypes within the population of drivers involved in multiple crashes has also been successful. However, the extent to which these results generalize to the young novice driver population has not been well established. Exposure of Young versus Old Drivers A questionnaire sent by the Connecticut Motor Vehicle Department to a large number of drivers of different ages showed that young men between the ages of 25 and 29 drive considerably more than do other age groups. Women drive less than men. Unlike men, their mileages tend to remain at a steady level until the age of 55. Drivers under 21 years of age are involved in a slightly larger percentage of night than of day accidents, but their proportion of the night accident total is comparatively small (12.2 per cent). Drivers 21 to 29 years of age figure in about 31 per cent of daytime accidents, and in almost 39 per cent of night accidents; when fatal accidents are considered their night proportion exceeds their day proportion by an even greater margin. Drivers in their thirties and forties are concerned in about 41 per cent of night accidents, and 45 per cent of day accidents; their contribution to the fatal accident total is about the same during the day as during the night. After reaching the age of 50, drivers have a considerably greater share of day than of night accidents (Wasielewski, 1984.). The Young, Inexperienced Poor Driver Studies made in Connecticut indicate that a greater proportion of young drivers have accidents than any other age group. According to the various surveys, almost 8 per cent of the drivers under 20 are involved in accidents, only about 4 per cent of the drivers over 50 years of age had accidents. On the basis of mileage driven, the fatal-accident rate for young drivers in their teens is twice as great as it is for operators in their twenties and study shows that drivers who are under 20 years of age when examined were found involved in fatal accidents nearly twice as frequently as the average driver examined and over five times as frequently as persons 50 years of age and older. Obviously both lack of experience and youth handicaps young drivers. It is impossible, however, to determine from the data at present available which of these factors is of greater importance. Some evidence showing that accidents are more closely correlated with age than with experience is contained in an old study of the relative influence of experience and age on accidents. A fundamental reason why young people have such a high accident rate is that they do much of their driving at night and on week ends when driving is much more dangerous. Statistics show that young people not only have a very high accident rate, but also have an excessive proportion of their accidents at night. Present-day youth has developed nocturnal recreational habits which from a safety standpoint are highly undesirable. Twenty-five years ago young people considered themselves fortunate if in the evening they could go to a neighborhood movie or a well-chaperoned party a few blocks away from their homes. Nowadays a young man thinks he must borrow the family car, collect a group of his friends and rush all around the country looking for entertainment. Often encouraged by alcoholic refreshments he is lured into demonstrating to his companions how fast "the old bus" will go, with disastrous results. If the number of accidents in which the younger generation is involved is to be reduced, parents must exercise more control over the nocturnal adventuring of their youngsters. For their children's own protection parents should supervise more carefully the use of the family car. They should encourage the younger generation to find more of their evenings' amusements nearer home and make them confine their extended motoring to the daytime when driving conditions are safer. Parents should also see to it that their children receive adequate driving instruction. They should encourage them to take advantage of any driver training courses offered in the community, or if no driver training courses are available, they should make provision for them to receive instruction from some competent professional driving teacher. They should make certain that they are thoroughly qualified to drive alone before they are allowed to apply for a license. After a youngster secures a license, parents should give his driving as much supervision as possible. They must endeavor to make him realize his responsibilities as a driver, to himself, to other occupants of his car, to other drivers, and to pedestrians. Much can be done to check the high accident rate of young persons if parents will follow these suggestions. Many young accident repeaters come from the lower economic class whose families cannot afford a car, and who, consequently, drive borrowed autos, commercial vehicles on off-time, or jalopies owned jointly with several other penniless young fellows. Their families, not having any money or property which may be attached for damages, concern themselves little with their children's driving activities, which are characterized by carelessness and irresponsibility (Macdonald, 1994). Conspicuous are the accidents caused by young men in this group who take strangers' cars for joyrides. Naturally persons whose upbringing does not inhibit them from stealing the property of others to satisfy their desire for a thrill are not going to make very dependable drivers. On the other hand, a small but none the less noticeable group of young male accident repeaters familiar to motor vehicle departments come from wealthy families who also lack the sense of civic responsibility to curb the driving excesses of their offspring. These young men, seeing that Father is able and willing to pay for accidents caused by their recklessness, develop much the same negligent, imprudent attitude as the one who knows that he and his parents cannot be held financially responsible. Reference: Macdonald, W. (1994). Young driver research program: A review of information on young driver crashes (Report CR 128). Canberra, Australia: Federal Office of Road Safety. National highway traffic safety administration. Traffic Safety Facts 2000, Report No. DOT HS 809 337, Washington: Department of Transportation, 2001. Retrieved February 15, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa, 2001. Donovan, J.E., 1993. Young adult drinking-driving: Behavioral and psychosocial correlates. J. Stud. Alcohol 54: 600-613. Evans, L., & Wasielewski, p. (1983). Risky driving related to driver and vehicle characteristics. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 15, 121-136. U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. (1993). Addressing the safety issues related to younger and older drivers: A report to Congress, January 19, 1993, On the research agenda of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT-HS-808-161). Washington, DC: Author. Wasielewski, P., 1984. Speed as a measure of driver risk: Observed speeds versus driver and vehicle characteristics. Accid. Anal. Prev. 16: 89-103. Read More