Car Accidents and Teen Drivers

From teachers in classrooms to parents in living rooms (and even law firms on injury blogs), teens are constantly warned about the dangers of irresponsible driving. Still, for every safety message, there’s another message sent through movies, video games, and peers that glorifies speeding and other hallmarks of reckless driving. It often seems like an uphill battle, but it is a fight we can’t abandon. We’ve seen too many injured people and too many families left grieving following a crash caused by a teen driver. While we are honored to help these victims through our work as a San Jose injury law firm, we know we cannot undo their loss or reverse their injury. We can, however, hope to prevent future tragedies by continuing to push for prevention.

Danville Teen Killed in Single-Car Crash
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a 17 year-old from Danville lost his life in a crash on Highway 24 in Lafayette. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Joseph Johnson reports that Anthony Grosso was speeding, weaving in and out of traffic lanes, and generally driving recklessly before he lost control of his vehicle near the central Lafayette exit at approximately 11 A.M. on Thursday. Grosso’s 2014 Subaru Impreza crashed into a traffic sign and slid down an embankment before coming to a stop. The teen who had been a student at San Ramon Valley High School prior to transferring to Walnut Creek’s Fusion Academy, died at the scene. Grosso was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the incident. Sgt. Johnson noted that the CHP is also looking into reports that Grosso and another driver had been racing just prior to the crash.

CDC Reports High Accident Rates Involving Teen Drivers
A dedicated webpage from the Center for Disease Control (“CDC”) looks at the facts about teen drivers. The CDC reports that, in 2010, approximately 2,700 young people aged 16 to 19 years died in motor vehicle collisions and another 282,000 were treated in emergency rooms for accident-related injuries. Looking at these figures another way, seven teens died every day in 2010 due to motor vehicle accidents, making crashes the number one cause of death for teens in the United States.

How do these numbers compare to accident rates for the general population? Per mile driven, young people ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision than drivers who have already celebrated their 20th birthday. Furthermore, while people aged 15 to 24 make up only 14% of the overall population, they account for 30% of the motor vehicle injury costs for men ($19 billion) and 28% of the motor vehicle injury costs for women ($7 billion). Notably, the 2010 motor vehicle fatality rate for males 16 to 19, including both passengers and drivers, was nearly two times that for females of the same age.

Education, Prevention, Advocacy, Representation
There are many responsible young people in the United States. Sadly, even one irresponsible teen driver can leave numerous people injured or cut multiple lives tragically short. We will continue to support efforts to educate young people about the dangers of reckless driving in the hopes of reaching that one teen. Our San Jose accident attorney and legal support team will also continue to help the victims of irresponsible drivers recover compensation, holding reckless drivers of all ages accountable for their actions.