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Your Teen's First Car Accident
What You Can Do to Help Ease the Pain
By Teri Brown
It's the phone call every parent of a teenager fears:
"Mommy!" My daughter's voice verged on hysteria.
I knew. "What happened?"
"I got into a car accident, Mommy!"
Just 10 minutes before, she'd been laughing and talking, getting ready to leave for her friend's house. Now she was on the side of a busy Oregon freeway, dealing with the adult world in a way she never had before. Three things struck me as I pulled up to the accident:
- She was at the end of a four-car pile up.
- She seemed OK.
- She looked so young.
My 16-year-old daughter had passed her driver's test a mere three months before the accident.
If you think the previous scenario won't happen to your teen, consider the following statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
- Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American teenagers.
- In 2001, 5,341 teens were killed in passenger vehicles involved in motor vehicle crashes. Two thirds of those killed were not buckled up.
- In 2001, 3,608 drivers 15 to 20 years old were killed in motor vehicle crashes, and an additional 337,000 were injured.
- Young drivers (16-20) were involved in 7,598 fatal crashes in 2001.
- In the last decade, over 68,000 teens have died in car crashes.
- Two out of three teenagers killed in motor vehicle crashes are males.
Joanne Helperin is the senior features editor for Edmunds Inc., a publisher of four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders. She says that preparation is half the battle. "Let them know that, statistically speaking, there is a good chance they will get in an accident during their first year of driving," she says. "Beat the odds by stressing the need for them to avoid driver distraction (a huge factor in teen accidents), such as cell phones, disruptive passengers and distracting music. Visibility is the key – know where trouble could be coming from, and be attentive to it. Avoid driving after dark. Keep in mind that experience is vital – don't assume you know everything about driving just because you have your license."