Teen driver deaths are on the rise.
A new study by the Governors Highway Safety Association found that there were 240 teen driver deaths in the first half of 2012, an increase of 19 percent from the same time period in 2011.
The researchers found that teen driving numbers were up, probably as a result of the improving economy. But the officials also suggest that these accidents and deaths are probably related to teens using mobile devices while driving.
Traffic fatalities among 16-year-olds rose by 24 percent in the first half of 2012, and those of 17-year-olds rose by 15 percent. Individually, 25 states recorded an increase, 17 saw a decrease and eight states reported no change in teen driving deaths.
"Teen drivers are not only a danger to themselves, but also a danger to others on the roadways," associate Chairman Kendell Poole told Reuters. "So these numbers are a cause for concern."
These numbers come after a decade long decrease in teen driver deaths. From 2000 to 2010, traffic fatalities for 16-year-old drivers actually fell by two-thirds, bringing the number down to 157. There was also a decrease for 17-year-olds, whose driving fatalities dropped by more than half, to 253. This decrease in deaths stopped in 2011.
The federal government has taken note of the relationship between traffic accidents and cellphones. The National Transportation Safety Board unanimously recommended that state governments ban the use of portable electronic devices while driving. And outgoing transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made decreasing driver distraction a top priority.
Jonathan Adkins, a spokesman for Governors Highway Safety Association, claims that we need tighter restrictions on teen drivers. The decreases in deaths in the last decade are attributed to some states introducing graduated driving laws that restricted young, inexperienced drivers (prohibiting night driving, passengers). Adkins said all states should implement these laws and more, keeping teen drivers off the road at night, prohibiting cellphone use while driving and limiting passengers.
