It’s almost time for summer break, which means more teens are on the road. In 2020, Florida teen drivers were involved in 84,052 crashes that resulted in 350 fatalities and 1,935 serious injuries. Those numbers were up from the year before by quite a bit. With around 800,000 registered teen drivers aged 15 to 19 in the state of Florida in 2020, that’s just over 10% of our teens were involved in crashes.
Here on the Treasure Coast, we’ve seen our fair share of fatalities from automobile accidents involving teen drivers. It hasn’t been a year yet since an 18-year-old and 19-year-old, along with an adult couple, lost their lives during an accident that occurred on US-1 in Jensen Beach. If you have a teen driver, talk to them about the impact that driving distracted, impaired, or negligently. Some of these statistics we found are scary, but they may help you get through to your teen driver.
- Teens are two and a half times more likely to engage in potentially risky behavior when driving with a teenage passenger versus driving alone.
- The likelihood increased to three times when teens were traveling with multiple passengers. Just adding two teenage passengers to a teen’s car has them three times more likely to partake in potentially risky behavior.
- Safety belts were not worn in one-third of the fatalities and serious injuries involving teen drivers. Seat belts are legally enforceable in the state of Florida, and yet a third of teens in fatal and serious injury crashes were not wearing them.
- From 2016-2020, more than one-third of all fatalities, serious injuries, and crashes involving a teen driver in Florida occurred at intersections. Intersections where the mix of traffic, pedestrians, signs, and signals can be overwhelming for any driver, let alone an inexperienced one.
- The highest rates of fatalities involving teen drivers occur in May, October, March, and November. These align with major high school events like prom, graduation, holiday breaks, and other dances.
- In 2020, 19-year-olds were the highest age for crash fatalities, serious injuries, and all-around crashes. Crash data shows that the older a teen gets, the more likely they will be involved in a crash and the more likely those crashes will involve a serious injury or fatality.
- Most crashes involving teens occur between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm, but the number of crashes with fatalities is highest between 7:00 pm and 1:00 am. In the state of Florida, 16-year-olds can only drive on their own from 6 am to 11 pm, and 17-year-olds are extended from 5 am through 1 am.
- In 2020, more than 18 percent of crashes involving a teen driver involved a distracted teen driver. Distracted driving is defined as any activity that diverts attention from driving. That includes talking on the phone, texting, eating, drinking, and playing with the radio or stereo, among other things.
- Male and Female teen drivers in Florida are involved in crashes at similar rates, but male teen drivers are overwhelmingly more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than their female counterparts. This suggests that male teen drivers engage in more dangerous behaviors while behind the wheel.
- 20 percent of teens killed, and 28 percent of teens seriously injured while riding a motorcycle were not wearing a helmet, even though it is required by law.
We at Philip DeBerard, Injury Attorney encourage you to speak with your teens regularly about the dangers of driving including distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding, driving with friends, and roadway signs. Open dialogue and creating a safe driving culture for teens can make a difference. We also encourage you to talk to your teen driver about speaking up when they are passengers with other teen drivers. Speaking up could save their lives.
Stuart Local Personal Injury Attorney
If you need legal assistance for your teen driver in Martin County, St Lucie County, or Okeechobee Counties, please contact Philip DeBerard, Injury Attorney to schedule a free consultation today. Offices are in Stuart, Port Saint Lucie, Okeechobee, Vero Beach, and Palm Beach, Florida.
Statistics pulled for this article were found through the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, and Signal Four Analytics. You can see up-to-date information on Florida Traffic Safety dating back to January 2011 by visiting Signal4Analytics. The Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition has several resources that may be of help to you as a parent of a teen driver.
