News Headlines
5 Ways to Get Drivers to Stop Texting
More and more passengers are speaking up about texting and driving. If a texting driver is making you nervous but you're not sure how to bring the topic up, here are some ideas: The direct approach. Say, "I'm sorry, but I get really nervous when people text and drive." Wait to see how the person responds. Most people will admit it's...
New booster seat evaluations
New booster evaluations: More top-rated seats help parents make a safe choice for their kids ARLINGTON, VA — A good fit is easier than ever to find when shopping for a booster seat, new ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show. A record 31 seats have been designated Best Bets, meaning they correctly position a vehicle sa...
Distracted Driving
Each day, more than 16 people are killed and more than 1,300 people are injured in crashes involving a distracted driver. Distracted driving is driving while doing another activity that takes your attention away from driving; these activities can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash. There are three main types of distraction: Visual...
12
Teen Drivers Buckle, but Teen Passengers Don't
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Most teen drivers fasten their seat belts when they get behind the wheel. But troubling new data show that teen passengers are far less likely to buckle up.
The finding, to be published in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, shows a significant gap in public education efforts to reduce teen driving deaths. While many new state laws have resulted in extra limits for teen drivers, little attention has been paid to the teens in the car who aren’t behind the wheel.
Motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among adolescents in the United States, accounting for nearly 5,000 fatalities and over 400,000 injuries annually among teens 16 and older. The crash rate for teen drivers is four times higher than for older drivers.
But studies show that it’s more than just teen drivers who are at risk — 40 percent of teen motor-vehicle deaths involve passengers. Researchers from Meharry Medical College in Nashville analyzed data from national Youth Risk Behavior surveys collected in 2001 and 2003 from 12,731 black, white and Hispanic high school students aged 16 years and older.
Overall, 59 percent of students always used seat belts when driving, but only 42 percent always buckled up as passengers, the researchers found. Only about one out of three students said they always wore seat belts whether driving or riding as a passenger.
There were important differences by gender, race and even the grades teens get on their report cards, but in all categories, passenger use of seat belts ranged from 10 to 21 percentage points lower than for drivers.
Among girls, 67 percent wore seat belts while driving, but the number dropped to 46 percent when girls moved out of the driver seat. For boys, 52 percent buckled up as drivers, but the number dropped to 38 percent in the passenger seat.
Blacks were the least likely to buckle up in the passenger seat, with only 37 percent reporting seat-belt use, compared to about 43 percent by Hispanics and whites.
Students who made A’s and B’s in school were more likely to buckle passenger belts than C students, but there was still a tremendous difference in seat-belt use compared to drivers. For instance, about 70 percent of student drivers who were A students wore seat belts, but just 50 percent of A students who were passengers buckled up.
Article cited from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/teen-drivers-buckle-but-teen-passengers-dont/
