Patrol focused on teen driver safety

FREMONT — About 11 percent of drivers nationally are age 24 and younger. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, teen drivers have a higher rate of fatal crashes, mainly because of their immaturity, lack of skills and lack of experience. "Any fatal crash is a tragedy, but even more so when a young person is involved," said Gov. Mike DeWine. "Every time our Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers interact with a young driver, they use it as an opportunity to stress the importance of safe driving habits, and they will put extra emphasis on this messaging throughout the month of September." In Ohio, teen drivers were involved in 162,267 traffic crashes from 2020 to 2021. An action on the part of the teen driver contributed to 67 percent of these crashes. Crashes where teen drivers were at fault resulted in 406 fatalities and 47,792 injuries during the same timeframe. To support young drivers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Ohio Traffic Safety Office launched the Drive to Live education program for youth last year. The program positively engages young drivers in conversations about good decision making. The Ohio Department of Public Safety's Teach your Teen to Drive website also offers parents and caregivers helpful tips and a framework for having discussions with their teen drivers about risky driving behaviors that can lead to fatal consequences. "Poor decisions while driving can impact young drivers for the rest of their lives," said Lt. Angel Burgos, Fremont Post commander. "That is why responsibility, awareness and safety are so important for our youngest drivers." The leading causes of teen driver crashes were following too close and failure to yield. Leading causes of fatal at fault youthful driver crashes included unsafe speed, failure to yield, driving off the roadway, and driving left of center. For a statistical map regarding teen drivers and a county-by-county breakdown of at-fault teens involved in crashes, visit https://statepatrol.ohio.gov/links/YoungDrivers_Bulletin_2022.pdf.