Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Too Many Teens Are Driving Drowsy

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Teens on the verge of falling asleep behind the wheel is a common threat to public safety on U.S. roadways, a new study reports.

About 1 in 6 teenage drivers say they’ve driven while drowsy, according to a National Sleep Foundation study presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Houston. The research was also published in a special supplement of the May issue of the journal Sleep.

That finding means that about 1.7 million teenage drivers have driven while sleepy, and more than 400,000 teens drive drowsy at least once a week, researchers estimated.

“This is a troubling rate, especially given that teens are new drivers with relatively low opportunity to have engaged in drowsy driving when compared to the lifetime of driving opportunities in adults,” said principal investigator Joseph Dzierzewski, vice president of research and scientific affairs at the National Sleep Foundation.

Teens know it’s not safe -- about 95% said drowsy driving is extremely or very risky, poll results show.

However, they listed drowsy driving as having the lowest risk of death or serious harm when compared to drunk, drugged or distracted driving, researchers found.

The survey involved 1,124 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, researchers said.

Source: HealthDay
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/first-aid-and-emergencies/too-many-teens-are-driving-drowsy

Teens with Anxiety, Mood Disorders Less Likely to Get Driver's License

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Teenagers suffering from anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder are likely to have a tougher time getting their driver’s license, a new study finds.

Teens and young adults with these types of mood disorders are 30% less likely to obtain a driver’s license than peers without a mood disorder, researchers report in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Youths with mood disorders also have nearly twice the risk of losing their license and a slightly elevated risk of crashing a vehicle, the researchers discovered.

“Our results indicate that newly licensed youths with mood disorders have a greater risk of crashing than other young drivers, but that this is a manageable risk,” said senior researcher Allison Curry, an associate professor of pediatrics with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

For the study, researchers compared nearly 1,900 teens with mood disorders to more than 84,000 teens without such a disorder, all of whom were eligible to get their license.

They linked the teens’ electronic health data with New Jersey driver licensing and crash data, to see how a mood disorder might affect driving.

They found that teens with mood disorders were significantly less likely to get a license.

Source: HealthDay
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/child-health/teens-with-anxiety-mood-disorders-less-likely-to-get-drivers-license

U.S. Teens Are Driving Drowsy at High Rates

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Drowsy driving causes thousands of car crashes a year, and teen drivers say they are often sleepy behind the wheel.

In a new survey, teens reported high rates of drowsy driving. School and job commitments were the top factors keeping them up at night.

A corresponding survey of U.S. adult drivers showed similar trends.

Both teens and adults called drowsy driving “highly risky.”

Previous studies have established that young people are at high risk for drowsy driving.

“What we see in our results this year is many teens, early in their driving experience, say they’ve already driven while drowsy. Overall, teens know the risks of drowsy driving, but don’t think it’s as risky as other forms of impaired driving,” Joseph Dzierzewski, a vice president of the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), said in a foundation news release.

In their first two years of driving, 1 in 6 teens said they had already driven while drowsy. About 95% of teens consider drowsy driving risky, but most rate drunken, drugged and distracted driving as more dangerous.

Teen drivers with jobs are more than twice as likely as others to have driven when they could barely keep their eyes open.

To reduce the risk, the NSF says it's important to get the recommended amount of sleep — seven to nine hours a night for adults, and eight to 10 for teens of driving age.

Source: HealthDay
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/sleep-disorder/us-teens-are-driving-drowsy-at-high-rates

New Technology Could Predict Teen Driver's Risk for a Crash

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

A new video game technology that exposes drivers to the most common serious crash scenarios and sees how they react may help predict what type of driver a teen will be. It can also highlight any potential problems, a new study suggests.

"Not only is the virtual driving assessment a great resource for young drivers to get feedback on their driving going beyond just pass or fail results, but it can also be a helpful resource for parents to determine if their child is ready to drive safely [and] know what types of driving skills they should focus on when taking their teens out to practice," said study author Elizabeth Walshe. She's a research scientist and leader of the Neuroscience of Driving Program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

The new video technology is called Ready Assess by Diagnostic Driving, Inc.

The virtual driving assessment is a fully immersive 15-minute, self-guided simulated drive that measures a person's ability to drive safely and avoid crashes. Drivers use a steering wheel, pedals and headphones while following the course on a computer screen. It measures more than 100 skills, including vehicle control, lane position, proximity to other vehicles, ability to negotiate curves and intersections, as well as responses to unexpected hazards.

At the end of the game, drivers receive a personalized report that identifies specific skill deficits and provides tips on how to improve driving skills.

For the study, published online in the journal Pediatrics, almost 17,000 Ohio drivers under 25 took the virtual driving assessment during the licensing process, and some clear patterns emerged.

Drivers who had "major issues with dangerous behavior" had a crash risk that was 11% higher than average in their first year with a license.

Those who got their license at age 18 were 16% more likely to crash based on their performance on the video game, the study showed. Drivers who performed well on the video game had a crash risk that was about 10% lower than the average risk, the study showed.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/teen-driving-2665878425.html

Driving on Less Than 5 Hours Sleep Is as Risky as Driving Drunk

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceAlert.

A new study published in Nature and Science of Sleep has found if you had less than five hours of sleep last night, you are just as likely to have a vehicle crash as if you were over the legal limit for alcohol.

About 20 percent of all vehicle crashes are caused by fatigue. Over the past 20 years, the number of crashes caused by alcohol has decreased significantly. However, there has been little progress over this period in decreasing the number of crashes caused by fatigue. The study sought to find whether the number of fatigue-related crashes on Australian roads could be reduced by following a strategy similar to the established practice of setting a blood-alcohol limit for drinking and driving . Could it be possible to determine a point at which a driver could be deemed to be impaired due to fatigue?

After synthesizing the findings of 61 unique studies, the research team found having less than 4 to 5 hours of sleep in the previous 24 hours is associated with an approximate doubling of the risk of a vehicle crash. This is the same risk of a crash seen when drivers have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent.

Additionally, a driver's risk of a crash significantly increased with each hour of sleep lost the night before. Some studies even suggested that when a driver had between zero and 4 hours of sleep the previous night, they may be up to 15 times more likely to have a crash.

The review of studies suggests that based on scientific evidence, it may be reasonable to require drivers to have a certain amount of sleep before getting behind the wheel. The research team suggested requiring a minimum of four to five hours of sleep prior to driving may be appropriate.

Source: ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/driving-on-less-than-5-hours-sleep-is-as-risky-as-driving-drunk

Teen Drivers Often Unsafe on the Road With Speeding and Handheld Cellphone Use

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by ScienceDaily.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in adolescents, and risky driving behaviors like speeding, rapid accelerations, and cellphone use can contribute to crashes. New research presented during the 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition finds many teens struggle to abide by the rules of the road.

Authors of the abstract, "Using a Novel cellphone Telematic App to Measure Adolescent Driving Behaviors," found that all teens, no matter their sex, behind the wheel of a car were prone to risky behaviors, particularly handheld cellphone use and speeding. Among teen drivers studied, speeding occurred in approximately 40% of trips, and handheld phone use was detected in just over 30% of trips. In 5% of trips tracked by the study, teenagers were using a cellphone while speeding.

The researchers used a cellphone application to track the driving skills of 165 adolescents in Pennsylvania. The average age of teens in the study was 17.3 years, and the average length of licensure was 8 months. The study found that most adolescents drove short trips, an average of under 6 miles per trip, and less than 2% of trips were at night.

"Our data gives us another insight into teen driving behaviors. Teens were speeding and using their cellphone while driving, but it did not occur in every trip. We want to encourage safe driving and find ways to help prevent those risky driving behaviors that can lead to a crash," said lead author Catherine McDonald, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Co-Director of the PENN Injury Science Center.

Source: ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221007085737.htm

Driver's Ed Does Help Young Drivers Stay Safe

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

If your teen is itching to get behind the wheel, new research underscores the importance of signing them up for driver's education.

The study found that driver training and graduated licensing significantly reduced young newbies' risk of crashes.

"With comprehensive licensing requirements, these younger drivers can perform better than older novice drivers who are exempt from these requirements," said lead author Elizabeth Walshe, a research scientist at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

"All novice drivers need the proper training that leads to developing the critical driving skills needed to avoid crashes," she said in a hospital news release.

Walshe and her team analyzed data on crashes among nearly 130,000 Ohio drivers, ages 16 to 24, in the year after they got their licenses.

Ohio requires driver training and graduated licensing for those licensed before age 18, but not for those who get their license at 18 or older.

Compared with drivers licensed at age 18, those licensed at 16 had a 27% lower crash rate in their first two months and a 14% lower rate in the first year after getting their license.

Rates among drivers licensed at the age of 17 were 19% lower and 6% lower, respectively than those licensed at 18.

The researchers also found that among would-be drivers under 25, the most successful with the on-road license examination were 16-year-olds. Their failure rate was 22%, compared with 37% among 18-year-olds, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/impact-texas-teen-drivers-2657191312.html

Suicidality is Linked to Risky Driving Behaviors in US High School Students

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Two of the most common forms of death among adolescents are suicide and motor vehicle traffic accidents. A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that adolescents who reported at least one suicide attempt within the last year, in comparison to those reporting no attempts, were more likely to also report infrequent seat belt use and driving with a drunk driver. There were also over twice as likely to report driving drunk.

The researchers analyzed data from over 13,500 U.S. high school students who participated in the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and found that 19% of the sample reported suicidal ideation. Texting or e-mailing while driving was the most commonly reported form of risky driving behaviors.

"The findings from this study emphasize the need for mental health support for adolescents experiencing suicidality as a means of increasing safety for themselves and their communities, as accidental injury deaths via car accidents were the leading cause of death among adolescents in 2019," said lead author Kyle T. Ganson, Ph.D., MSW, assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work."The more severe the suicidality, the stronger the association with risky driving behaviors. Adolescents who reported a suicide injury, such as poisoning or overdose needing to be treated by a medical professional, had the highest likelihood to report all four risky driving behaviors we examined."

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-suicidality-linked-risky-behaviors-high.html

Driving Technology Benefits Young Drivers Most And Could Slash Teen Crashes

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on Forbes.com.

Crash avoidance features and teen-specific vehicle systems could offer large safety benefits for teen drivers — they have the potential to prevent or mitigate up to three-quarters of fatal crashes.  And crash avoidance technologies appear to benefit young drivers more than older ones.

Those are the highlights of several new reports released earlier this month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit financed by the insurance industry, and its affiliate, the Highway Loss Data Institute.

One study that addressed the safety benefits of crash avoidance technologies like front crash prevention and lane departure prevention found that they can help a particularly crash-prone group of drivers – teenagers.

Researchers concluded that if the technologies were universally used and completely effective, they could prevent or mitigate 41% of all crashes involving teen drivers and as many as 47% of teen driver injuries and 78% of teen driver deaths.

Three other studies by the Highway Loss Data Institute based on an analysis of insurance data found that young drivers under 25 gained bigger benefits from crash avoidance tech like front crash prevention and lane departure warning than drivers 25 and older.

Source: Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2021/09/22/driving-technology-benefits-young-drivers-most-and-could-slash-teen-crashes-new-studies-find/

Best & Worst States for Teen Drivers (2021)

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on Automoblog.

A recent study from WalletHub examined the risks for teenage drivers on a state-by-state basis. Overall, WalletHub researchers studied 23 key data points ranging from teen driver fatalities and the presence of impaired driving laws to the cost of car repairs. Based on the data, WalletHub has compiled its list of the best and worst states for teen drivers in 2021. Below is a summary of WalletHub’s findings.

10 Best: New York, Oregon, Connecticut, Alaska, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Maryland, New Jersey

10 Worst: South Carolina, New Hampshire, Arkansas, Nebraska, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming

Best State: New York
State with Lowest Teen Deaths: Rhode Island
State with Lowest Increase for Teen Auto Insurance: Hawaii
State with Best Road Conditions: Tennessee

Source: Automoblog
https://www.automoblog.net/best-worst-states-teen-drivers/