Texting Teens a Summer Danger in Tennessee

A Tennessee crash in which a texting teen collided head-on with a deputy has parents issuing strong warnings about texting and driving. According to WRCB TV, the number of accidents involving texting teens is on the rise. This is bad news when motor vehicle accidents are already so common among young people.

In 2012, 2,439 teenagers were killed in motor vehicle collisions in the United States. During that year, there were 1,927 teen fatalities from homicides and 1,863 teen deaths due to suicide. Motor vehicle collisions were the leading cause of fatalities and many of the young people who were killed were students in either high school or college at the time when they lost their lives.

General Motors recently conducted a study on teen driving behavior to understand the risks young people face. Determining the cause of teen collisions is essential to preventing them. Those who are harmed should also speak with an experienced attorney at the Law Offices of G. Turner Howard III about how to take legal action after student accidents. When the young person is still in school and does not have a job and lost wages, it can be more difficult to determine an appropriate amount of compensation for wrongful death or personal injury. An experienced lawyer can help.

A Closer Look at Teen Deaths in Motor Vehicle Accidents

The General Motors study is called “Teens in Cars.” More than 1,000 teenagers nationwide were interviewed about their habits when driving or when riding as a passenger. The report revealed that many young people are taking dangerous risks and are not speaking up when they are in unsafe situations. For example:

• The number of fatalities among teen drivers was almost equally divided between teens who were killed when driving and teens who were killed when riding as passengers in other people’s cars.
• One out of every four teens responding to the survey told researchers that they did not buckle their seat belt every single time they were in the car. Reasons for not buckling up included the fact that it wasn’t a habit to do so; the fact that they weren’t driving far; or a complaint that buckling up is not comfortable.
• Half of the teenagers who were killed in fatal accidents were not wearing seat belts at the time when the collision happened. Seat belts can reduce the risk of death for a teen sitting in the front seat by as much as 45 percent.
• A total of 73 percent of teenagers who did not buckle up said that they texted and drove, as compared with 52 percent of buckled teens who sent or read texts.
• A total of 39 percent of teenage drivers indicated they’d driven in a car with a texting teen driver and another 43 percent said they’d driven in a car with a teen driver who was talking on his cellular phone.
• A total of 57 percent of teenagers who answered the survey said that they had observed a parent talking on a cellular phone and driving, while 28 percent have actually been in the car with a parent who was texting behind the wheel.
• A total of 49 percent of teenagers said that they had experienced a time they felt unsafe when riding with a teen driver, while 31 percent said they’d been unsafe in the car with a parent driver. Just four in 10 spoke up when they thought that the driver was behaving recklessly.

If teens would buckle up and speak up about dangerous driving behaviors, many lives could be saved and accidents avoided.

Knoxville accident lawyer can help collision victims. Contact G. Turner Howard III, Attorney at Law at (844) G3-Help-Me or 865-558-8030.