Promote Youth Highway Safety

• Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for 15- through 20-year-olds.
• From 1996 through 2005, almost 64,000 youth aged 15 through 20 died in traffic crashes—122 each week.
• In 2005, 3,467 drivers 15 through 20 years old were killed, and an additional 281,000 15- through 20-year-olds were injured in motor vehicle crashes. In 2005, 7,460 15- through 20-year-old drivers were involved in fatal crashes, resulting in 8,609 total fatalities.
• In 2004, teen drivers constituted only 6.3 percent of licensed drivers, but were involved in 12.6 percent of all highway fatal crashes and 16 percent of all police-reported crashes.
• The risk of a crash involving a teenage driver increases with each additional teen passenger in the vehicle.