Agressive Teenage Drivers

Recently, a University of Texas Transportation engineering professor completed a study on aggressive driving behavior and how it relates to severity of injuries sustained during an accident.

One of the most interesting facts to come out of the study, which gathered information on over 7000 accidents over a three year period, was that the most dangerous vehicle for a 16-17 year old to drive is a pick-up truck.  So much so that teens driving them are 100% more likely to be severely injured during a crash than the same aged person driving a car. 
Also, it is more dangerous for a driver, regardless of age, to have one teenage passenger in their vehicle instead of two or three.

To me, the research performed adds to the ongoing conversation that new drivers need more education from a driving safety school than is currently provided today.  Driver safety training, defensive driving, or whatever you’d like to call it needs to be a greater part of the driving education experience.  Sure, getting comfortable in a vehicle and understanding the responsibility required to drive is important, but I think there needs to be more emphasis on distracted driving and the dangers involved with it. 

Driving with a single passenger shows the greatest risk of being in an accident, where severe injuries were sustained.  More than likely this is due to the driver feeling an obligation to the passenger to entertain or stay focused on the passenger.  At about age 20 the aggressive driving behavior begins to subside slightly.  A 16-17 year old driver was found to be 368% more likely to drive aggressively than those 65 or older.  While a 19-20 year old was found to be 195% more likely.  Staggering statistics.  In short maybe the first 4 years of driving need to be studied in more detail and perhaps annual, or semi-annual driver safety training should be required.