Teen Drivers: Get the Facts

In 2019, almost 2,400 teens in the United States aged 13–19 were killed^1,2 and about 258,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes.¹ That means that every day, about seven teens died due to motor vehicle crashes, and hundreds more were injured. In addition, motor vehicle crash deaths among teens 15–19 years of age resulted in about $4.8 billion in medical and work loss costs for crashes that occurred in 2018.¹

The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among teens aged 16–19 than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers in this age group are nearly three times as likely as drivers aged 20 or older to be in a fatal crash.²

Teens who are at especially high risk for motor vehicle crashes are:

• Males
  • In 2019, the motor vehicle death rate for male drivers aged 16–19 was over two times higher than the death rate for female drivers of the same age.²

• Teens driving with teen or young adult passengers
  • The presence of teen or young adult passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers. This risk increases with each additional teen or young adult passenger.^3,4

• Newly licensed teens
  • Crash risk is particularly high during the first months of licensure.^5–7 Data from the 2016–2017 National Household Travel Survey indicate that the crash rate per mile driven is about 1.5 times as highexternal icon for 16-year-old drivers as it is for 18–19-year-old drivers.²

What factors can put teens at risk?

Inexperience:

• Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate or not be able to recognize dangerous situations.^8,9 Teens are also more likely than adults to make critical decision errors that can lead to serious crashes.¹⁰

Nighttime and Weekend Driving:

• Nighttime driving is riskier than daytime driving for drivers of all ages but is particularly dangerous for teen drivers.
• Data from the 2016–2017 National Household Travel Survey indicate that teen drivers aged 16–19 years were almost 3 times as likely to be involved in fatal nighttime crashes than adult drivers aged 30–59 years per mile driven.²
• In 2019, 40% of motor vehicle crash deaths among teens aged 13–19 occurred between 9 pm and 6 am, and 52% occurred on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.²

Not Using Seat Belts:

• Compared with other age groups, teens and young adults often have the lowest seat belt use rates.¹¹ For example, results from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) Controlled Intersection study from 2016–2019 indicate that seat belt use in the front seat among teens and young adults (16–24 years of age) was approximately 87% each year, whereas seat belt use among adults (25 years of age or older) in the front seat was about 90% or higher for each year during the same period.¹¹
• In 2019, 43.1% of U.S. high school students did not always wear a seat belt when riding in a car driven by someone else.¹²
• Among teen drivers and passengers 16–19 years of age who died in car crashes in 2019, almost half were unrestrained at the time of the crash (when restraint use was known).²

Distracted Driving:

• Distraction negatively effects driving performance for all drivers but can be especially dangerous for young, inexperienced drivers.
• Results from the 2019 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed that, among U.S. high school students who drove, 39.0% texted or e-mailed while driving at least once during the 30 days before the survey.¹²

Speeding:

• Teens are more likely than older drivers to speed and allow shorter headways (the distance from the front of one vehicle to the front of the next).¹³
• In 2019, 31% of male drivers aged 15–20 years and 17% of female drivers aged 15–20 years who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding.¹⁴

Alcohol Use:

• Drinking any amount of alcohol before driving increases crash risk among teen drivers.^2,15 Teen drivers have a much higher risk for being involved in a crash than older drivers at the same blood alcohol concentration (BAC), even at BAC levels below the legal limit for adults.¹⁵
• Results from the 2019 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey¹² revealed the following:
  • Among U.S. high school students who drove, 5.4% drove when they had been drinking alcohol at least once during the 30 days before the survey.¹²
  • Driving after drinking alcohol was higher among students who were older, male, Hispanic, or had lower grades.¹²
  • 16.7% of U.S. high school students rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol at least once during the 30 days before the survey.¹²
  • Riding with a drinking driver was higher among Hispanic students or students with lower grades.¹²
  • Students who engaged in any of the other transportation risk behaviors measured by the survey were approximately 3–13 times as likely to have also engaged in driving after drinking alcohol at least once during the 30 days before the survey.¹²
• Drinking alcohol is illegal for people less than 21 years of age, as is driving after drinking any amount of alcohol. Despite this, in 2019, 24% of drivers aged 15–20 who were killed in fatal motor vehicle crashes had been drinking.¹⁴
• In 2019, 15% of drivers aged 15–20 involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes had a BAC of 0.08% or higher – a level that is illegal for adults aged 21 or older in all U.S. states (Note: Utah has a BAC limit of 0.05%).¹⁴
• In 2019, 60% of drivers aged 15–20 who were killed in motor vehicle crashes after drinking and driving were not wearing a seat belt (based on known restraint use).¹⁴
• For young drivers involved in fatal crashes, alcohol involvement is typically higher among male drivers than among female drivers. In 2019, 20% of male drivers aged 15–20 years and 14% of female drivers aged 15–20 years involved in fatal crashes had been drinking prior to the crash.¹⁴

Drug/Substance Use:

• Driving while impaired by any substance (including alcohol, marijuana, other illicit drugs, prescription medications, or over-the-counter medications) is dangerous and illegal.^16,17
• Many types of drugs/substances have the potential to impair a teen’s ability to drive safely.¹⁶
• After alcohol, marijuana is the most common drug associated with impaired driving.^16,18
• Marijuana has negative effects on judgment, motor coordination, decision-making, and reaction time—all of which are important skills for safe driving.^16,19–21
• Regardless of age, acute cannabis intoxication has been associated with an increased risk for motor vehicle crashes.^20–22
• Results from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed that in 2017, among U.S. high school students who drove, about 13% drove when they had been using marijuana during the 30 days before the survey.^23,24
• Risk for motor vehicle crashes appears to be higher when driving after using both marijuana and alcohol as compared with driving after using either marijuana by itself or alcohol by itself.^25–27

Eight Danger Zones

Parents: Make sure you and your young driver are aware of the leading causes of teen crashes and injuries:

1. Driver inexperience
2. Driving with teen passengers
3. Nighttime driving
4. Not using seat belts
5. Distracted driving
6. Drowsy driving
7. Reckless driving
8. Impaired driving

There are proven methods to help teens become safer drivers. Learn what research has demonstrated that parents can do to keep teen drivers safe from these risks.

Seat Belts Save Lives

At least 48% of teen drivers and passengers aged 16–19 years who died in passenger vehicle crashes in 2019 were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.² Research indicates that seat belts reduce serious crash-related injuries and deaths by about halfexternal icon.²⁸

Primary Enforcement of Seat Belt Laws

States vary in their enforcement of seat belt laws. A primary enforcement seat belt law allows police officers to ticket drivers or passengers for not wearing a seat belt, even if this is the only violation that has occurred. A secondary enforcement seat belt law allows police officers to ticket drivers or passengers for not wearing a seat belt only if they have pulled over the driver for another reason. Some states have secondary enforcement seat belt laws for adults but have primary enforcement seat belt laws for young drivers. Seat belt use among all age groups is consistently higher in states with primary enforcement seat belt laws than in states with secondary enforcement seat belt laws.^29–31 Visit the seat belt and child seat laws by state webpageexternal icon on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s website for up-to-date information on seat belt laws by state, including the type of enforcement, who is covered, and which seating positions are covered.³² CDC also recently published state-specific fact sheets that provide a snapshot of motor vehicle occupant deaths and seat belt use, as well as an overview of proven strategies for increasing the use of seat belts, car seats, and booster seats. Additionally, you can use CDC’s Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS) to learn about how many lives could be saved, injuries prevented, and costs averted if your state were to implement a primary enforcement seat belt law.³³

Not Drinking & Driving Prevents Crashes

Maintaining and enforcing minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws and zero tolerance laws for drivers under age 21 is recommended to help prevent drinking and driving among young drivers.^34–36

Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) Systems Reduce Fatal Crashes

Driving is a complex skill, one that must be practiced to be learned well. Teenagers’ lack of driving experience, together with risk-taking behavior, heightens their risk for crashes. The need for skill-building and driving supervision for new drivers is the basis for graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems. Although varied, GDL systems exist in all U.S. states and Washington, D.C. GDL systems provide longer practice periods, limit driving under high-risk conditions for newly licensed drivers, and require greater participation from parents as their teens learn to drive. Research indicates that GDL systems are associated with reductions of about 19% for injury crashes and about 21% for fatal crashes for 16-year-olds.³⁷ Current GDL research has frequently focused on exploring how many teens are delaying licensure, characteristics of teens who are more likely to delay licensure, and whether teens who delay licensure might be missing out on important benefits of GDL because they are aging out of the GDL systems in their states.^38–42

Parents can help their teens be safer by knowing and following their state’s GDL laws. Check out GDL laws by stateexternal icon on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s website to learn more about your state’s GDL laws.

CDC’s GDL Planning Guide can assist states in assessing, developing, and implementing actionable plans to strengthen GDL practices. CDC’s new State-Specific Fact Sheets on Costs of Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths contain recommendations of proven strategies for each state, including recommendations that could strengthen each state’s GDL system.

Parents, pediatricians, and communities can find more information on how to keep teens safe on the road at www.cdc.gov/ParentsAretheKey. There you can download free materials including a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement.

• CDC Feature: Crash and Injury Risks for Teen Drivers
• CDC’s 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey MMWR Surveillance Supplement, article 9: Transportation Risk Behaviors Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019
• CDC’s Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) System Planning Guide
• CDC’s State-Specific Fact Sheets on Costs of Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths
• CDC Prevention Status Reports: Motor Vehicle Injuries
• CDC Podcasts about Teen Driver Safety:
  • New to the Road (A Cup of Health with CDC)
  • Guiding Teen Drivers (A Cup of Health with CDC)
  • Guiding Teen Drivers (A Minute of Health with CDC)
• CDC’s Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS)
• CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH): Motor Vehicle Safety for Young Drivers at Work
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: Safe Vehicles for Teensexternal icon