Young drivers constitute a major problem in every motorized country in the world. Figure 1 illustrates this problem in the United States, using mileage data from the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey and a 1990 national probability based sample of police-reported crashes of all levels of severity. Drivers ages 16-19 had the highest crash rate, 20.1 crashes per million miles driven, compared with a rate of 5.3 for all other ages combined. The rates are high for both male (20.9) and female (19.1) 16-19 year-olds. Among the 16-19 age group, 16-year-olds have by far the highest rate (43.2), followed by 17-year-olds (30.3). Drivers 16-19 years old also have the highest crash rates of all age groups per license holder and per capita (Massie and Campbell, 1993). The per capita rate is most important from a public health standpoint in that it allows assessment of the extent of the motor vehicle crash problem in a particular group and can be used to compare the relative contribution of various groups of people to the overall crash problem. Motor vehicle injuries are the major health problem for 16-19 year-olds, accounting, in the United States, for more than 40 percent of all their deaths. (Author/publisher)
Abstract