This paper was originally published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the USA. It presents a study which used data from the North Carolina (NC) history file to match the crash and violation records of young people, aged 18-21, with those of their parents. The influence of parents on their teenagers' collision and offence rates has not previously received much attention. The history file includes data about speeding, reckless driving, drink driving, failure to yield, driving without a licence, and reportable crashes. The most recent data for each driver from the May 1996 driver history file were analysed. Using state-wide data, logistic regressions were used to model the probability of crash involvement for young drivers as a function of child gender, combined parent crashes, combine parent offences, and whether the child was matched with one or two parents. All statistical tests conducted used the SUDAAN software package. The results indicate that children's driving records in the first few years of their licenses are related to their parents' driving records. Children were 22% more likely to crash if their parents had at least three crashes, and 38% more likely to offend if their parents had at least three offences. Similar relationships hold for different household types and genders.
Abstract