[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 30-May-2001
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: BMA Press Office
pressoffice@bma.org.uk
020-7383-6254
BMJ Specialty Journals

Restrictions on 16 and 17 year old drivers carrying teenage passengers would save lives

Potential benefits of restrictions on the transport of teenage passengers by 16 and 17 year old drivers 2001; 7: 129-134

Click below to download PDF document
You will require Acrobat Reader to view file.
Click here for PDF document

Restrictions on 16-17 year old drivers carrying passengers younger than age 20 would save lives, finds research in Injury Prevention. Even if fewer than half the drivers obey such restrictions, a substantial reduction in road user deaths would be expected.

Researchers in the United States estimated the potential effects of restrictions on drivers ages 16-17 carrying passengers younger than 20 using 1995 road user death rates and potential choices made by passengers who would have travelled with 16-17 year old drivers if there were no restrictions.

Of 1181 road user deaths in 1995 involving drivers ages 16-17 whose passengers were all younger than 20, they found that between 83 and 493 lives would be saved annually for drivers ages 16 and 17 combined, corresponding to a 7-42% reduction in road user deaths. Similar reductions (8-44%) were predicted solely for 16 year old drivers.

Although the effect of passenger restrictions is strongly associated with the extent to which the law is observed, a 15-22% reduction in road user deaths would be expected if only half the 16-17 year old drivers obeyed the law, add the authors. Restrictions on carrying teenage passengers should be considered for inclusion in graduated licensing systems, they conclude.

###

Contact:
Li-Hui Chen, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Tel: 1-410-614-2812
lhchen@jhsph.edu

Contact:
Elisa Braver, Senior Epidemiologist, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Virginia, USA
Tel: 1-703-247-1500
ebraver@iihs.org


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

 


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.