There were 196.2 million licensed drivers in the United States in 2003 (2004 data not available). Young drivers, between the ages of 15 and 20, accounted for 6.3 percent (12.4 million) of the total, a 7.2 percent increase from the 11.6 million young drivers in 1993. In 2004, 7,898 15- to 20-year-old drivers were involved in fatal crashes — a 1-percent decrease from 7,968 involved in 1994. Driver fatalities for this age group increased by 5 percent between 1994 and 2004. For young males, driver fatalities rose by 1 percent, compared with a 15-percent increase for young females (Table 1). Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-yearolds (based on 2002 figures, which are the latest mortality data currently available from the National Center for Health Statistics). In 2004, 3,620 drivers age 15 to 20 were killed, and an additional 303,000 injured, in motor vehicle crashes. (Author/publisher)
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