Mar 4, 2008 5:20 pm US/Central
New Study Reveals Risks To Teens On The Road
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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LaQuita Williams, 16, rides as a passenger with her older brother, and both understand the dangers that face them on the road.
CBS
Car crashes are the leading cause of death among teens and tweens, and a new study looked at why and what can stop the trend.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports the highest risk factors for fatal teen crashes found in the study included riding unbuckled, with new teen drivers on roads with speed limits above 45 miles an hour.
LaQuita Williams, 16, rides as a passenger with her older brother, and both understand the dangers that face them on the road.
She's heard about a new study that finds car crashes to be the number one killer among kids ages 8 to 17.
And the passengers at highest risk include those riding without using seatbelts, and those riding with new drivers on high speed roads.
Police say a 15-year-old girl from Deerfield lost her life in July when she didn't have her seatbelt on. She was riding in a Jeep when it flipped.
Prosser Career Academy students just getting their learner's permits on Tuesday remember other fatal crashes.
"Most of them were either driving too fast, didn't have a seatbelt on or there's too many of them in the car, some of them had a seatbelt on…" said 15-year-old Brooklynn Augustus.
In January, a law imposing tougher restrictions on teen drivers went into effect in Illinois. It strengthens a kind of driving curfew for teens, taking them away from the wheel an hour earlier at night. And it lengthens the time required to hold a learner's permit from 3 months to 9 months.
"Teen drivers make up 6 percent of the driving population, but they contribute to 12.5 percent of the fatalities on the roads," said Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. "And my mission is to help make the roads of Illinois the safest ever."
Jesse Coronado's been teaching driver's education for 20 years. He expects the new laws to help save the lives of his students.
"There's no substitute for practice, and what I mean about practice is practice not only on a dry day, but in the rain, in the snow, in the fog, at night," said Coronado said.
The secretary of state has had a Web site up and running since the first of the year that not only gives parents a chance to
check their teen's driving record, but also lets parents
print a driving contract they can sign with their child. It lists safe driving rules and can help define a parent's punishment for breaking them.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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