Crash and Risky Driving Involvement Among Novice Adolescent Drivers and Their Parents

Abstract

We compared rates of risky driving among novice adolescent and adult drivers over the first 18 months of adolescents' licensure. Data-recording systems installed in participants' vehicles provided information on driving performance of 42 newly licensed adolescent drivers and their parents. We analyzed crashes and near crashes and elevated g-force event rates by Poisson regression with random effects. During the study period, adolescents were involved in 279 crashes or near crashes (1 involving injury); parents had 34 such accidents. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) comparing adolescent and parent crash and near-crash rates was 3.91. Among adolescent drivers, elevated rates of g-force events correlated with crashes and near crashes (r = 0.60; P < .001). The IRR comparing incident rates of risky driving among adolescents and parents was 5.08. Adolescents' rates of crashes and near crashes declined with time (with a significant uptick in the last quarter), but elevated g-force event rates did not decline. Elevated g-force events among adolescents may have contributed to crash and near-crash rates that remained much higher than adult levels after 18 months of driving.