Liza Harmon, a high school student in Belmont, Mass., got her license as soon as she reached the legal age of 16. “In high school, having your parents drive you around isn’t all that cool anymore,” she explains.

But are her classmates good drivers? “When they’re with their parents, obviously they drive very carefully, as if they’re taking a driver’s test,” Ms. Harmon says. But it’s different with friends in the car.  She notes that many of her peers,especially the boys, “are a little aggressive, taking sharp turns and going faster. It’s fun to go fast, and they show off for their friends.”

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle traffic crashes are the biggest killers of U.S. children and teens. In many states, drivers under 18 face extra penalties for breaking the rules. In Massachusetts, for example, speeding teens get a 90-day license suspension and a $500 fine. So, why aren’t young drivers more careful?

Teen perceptions of risk

Teens tend to underestimate the amount of time it takes to become an experienced driver. In focus groups organized by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, teens thought that driving with friends might be distracting—but only for teens new to driving. A “few weeks or maybe months” of experience was enough, they believed, to reduce the risk.

Inexperience can be fatal. One study found that compared to 18- and 19-year-olds,  drivers who were 16 or 17 were roughly three times more likely to be involved in a car crash. Another showed that crash rates are highest in the first month after getting a driver’s license, with a sharp and steady improvement in safety through the 7th month of driving. Crash risk continues to go down, more gradually, through the rest of those first two years behind the wheel.

The teen brain: not road-ready

Jeffrey Weiss, M.D., of Phoenix Children’s Hospital and the University of Arizona College of Medicine, notes that those first 500 to 1000 miles are especially dangerous for new drivers.  Dr. Weiss was lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy statement on teen driver safety.

Safe driving requires more than good intentions. “A lot of kids who want to drive well just don’t have the developmental capabilities,” says Dr. Weiss. “The part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex—that’s responsible for planning and executive decision making—just isn’t fully developed in teens. And it isn’t completely developed until people are well into their 20s.” In other words, the fact that a teen has passed her written and road tests doesn’t make her brain road-ready.

Dr. Weiss gives this example: “Let’s say that you’re driving along and out of corner of your eye, as an experienced driver, you see a car at a cross street going too fast. You have the right of way, but you suspect that guy’s going to go through that stop sign or red light. You’re able to observe that, hit the brakes and avoid a crash. A 16-year old may not have even seen that, or recognized that the other car was going too fast. So, it’s the ability to observe a lot of information all at once, put it together, and make a decision, and doing that fast enough to avoid a crash.” A young person may have faster reflexes, but that’s no match for a more mature brain and years of driving experience.

Inside the brain of a teen driver It’s not surprising that a 16-year-old driver is more likely to have an accident than a 26-year-old driver; the older driver has had more practice, after all. But experience is not the whole story. If we compare novice drivers aged 26 and 16, the teens will still crash more. “So there’s something inherent about that age that makes kids more likely to seek sensations and rewards, and less likely to be able to control themselves,” says Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. The difference lies in brain development. Two brain systems play a role here. First up is the socioemotional system; this includes parts of the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex—the area above your eyes. “This system of the brain is active when we process social, emotional information and experiences of reward and punishment,” says Dr. Steinberg. Around the time of puberty, this system goes into overdrive. “It’s more active in the early teens than any other time in development,” he adds. “This means that rewarding things feel more rewarding during early adolescence than during any other point in time.” Remember how strongly you felt those snubs and crushes in your early teens? Yes, your feelings really were more intense at that age! That revved-up socioemotional system can lead young teens to look for stronger, more novel sensations. (Think roller coasters and zombie films.) In a study using computer simulations, Dr. Steinberg and colleagues found that teens were twice as likely to take risks when “driving” with two friends present than when driving alone. They’re now studying how teens’ brains react to these driving games. “When friends are watching, we see a lot of activity in the socioemotional system. With adults and their friends, we don’t see that. Our hypothesis is that in our lab, and in your kid’s car, friends increase sensation-seeking and reward seeking.” Another way teen brain development affects driving is through the cognitive control system. (It’s in the lateral prefrontal cortex—along the sides of the front of your brain.) The cognitive control system plays tortoise to the socioemotional system’s hare: it changes gradually, not reaching maturity until early adulthood. Dr. Steinberg speculates that “in the early driving years, around age 16, you have an easily aroused socioemotional system which spurs kids to more sensation seeking. But you have a still immature cognitive control system. A nice analogy is that the socioemotional system is the gas, and the cognitive control system is the brake. It’s like starting the engines without a skilled driver behind the wheel.”

Driving and distraction

Another blind spot for teen drivers is that they underestimate the risk of distractions. In NHTSA focus groups, for example, teens rated talking on a cell phone while driving as dangerous—but only for other people. These teens believed that, as “experienced drivers,” they could safely handle the distraction of a phone call.

“If I’m going very slow, or at a stoplight, I might do a quick text to a friend who’s wondering where I am,” says teen driver Liza Harmon. “I try not to, because it’s very scary, because you really can’t see where you’re going. But I do have friends who text while driving.”

Dr. Weiss notes that any kind of distraction—a text message, a hamburger, or adjusting the heater—affects young drivers more. And there’s one big risk that many teens ignore: their own friends.

The National Young Driver Survey asked teens in grades 9 to 11 about 25 behaviors or situations that were most risky for drivers and passengers. Drinking and driving was rated the most risky behavior. Lack of driving experience and texting while driving ranked in the middle, and driving with other teen passengers was ranked lowest.

When teen drivers carry teen passengers, the risk is magnified. And it’s more than the fact that interacting with friends takes attention from the road. Teens in groups are more likely to do risky things; a teen driver surrounded by peers is more likely to speed.

“One passenger in the car increases crash rates for 16 and 17-year-olds by 40 percent,” says Dr. Weiss. “Two passengers doubles the risk. And three or more quadruples the risk of a crash for a teenage driver. So the more passengers you have, the more dangerous the situation is.”  For adult drivers, by contrast, carrying passengers reduces the odds of a crash.

Young drivers are also influenced by what they think passengers expect. For example, boys drive more carefully when their passenger is a girl.

Limiting the risk for teen drivers

What can be done to make teen drivers safer? Improving driver education is one approach. “Whether drivers education works or not is a very complicated question, because there are so many different kinds,” says Dr. Weiss. Programs taught entirely by parents seem less effective, for example. “In those programs, kids are much more likely to get into crashes, especially if the parent isn’t a very good driver. We know that parents who have lots of speeding tickets, their kids have lots of speeding tickets, too.”

High school courses for drivers may put too much emphasis on classroom training. “There’s traditionally only about six hours of practice,” Dr. Weiss says. “That’s nowhere near enough.” He  notes that many states now require parents to supervise a teen driver for at least 30 and as many as 100 hours of  practice, “to show that the kid got the hang of how to control the car.” The new driver needs to see and feel how his actions affect the car, and how the car behaves, in all kinds of road and weather conditions. She needs to learn what to pay attention to—pedestrians, other cars, traffic lights and signs—and what she can safely tune out.

Dr. Weiss sees benefits in requiring more time driving on a learner’s permit before earning a license. “You have to be able to sense that car coming up on your right so you don’t change lanes, how to use mirrors and scan the road frequently,” he says. “These are all very complex tasks that are hard to teach; you just need practice. So a longer permit period will provide teen drivers with more time to practice.”

He sees increasing support for a two-part approach to driver education, such as the one now used in Michigan. The first part involves basics such as controlling the car and reading road signs. The second part is more sophisticated, covering “the kind of strategy you need to avoid crashes, like deciding how many passengers to have, what route to take, and what time of day to go.”

The recent research on teen drivers has led many states to start “graduated driver licensing” programs. Instead of going from a driving permit (where an adult driver must be present) to full driving privileges, teens receive a provisional license. A 2008 NHTSA bulletinhas details on the graduated driver licensing system.

In Massachusetts, a newly licensed driver under 18 receives a restricted “junior operator” license.  For the first six months, that driver may not carry (non-family) passengers under age 18, unless accompanied by an experienced driver aged 21 or older. For the first year, there are restrictions on driving between 12:30 AM and 5 AM.

Advice for parents

Nagging and lectures won’t work. Is there anything parents can do to reduce the risk for teen drivers?

“Your teen is capable of safe driving,” says Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., who consults to the Allstate Foundation’s teen driving program.  “But this capability is more fragile than for an adult driver, and more easily disrupted.” Things that disrupt teen drivers include having other people in the car, trying to multitask (no cell phone calls, please), and driving in less-than-optimal conditions, such as after dark. Dr. Steinberg suggests that parents follow the lead of states that use graduated licensing, and ease their kids into driving. For the first six to 12 months, protect them from those distractions.

“A parent who would never let kids drive after drinking will think nothing of letting their child drive with four friends in the car,” says Dr. Steinberg. “Many parents don’t realize that for kids, having other passengers in the car is as risky as drinking and driving.”

Pediatrician Jeffrey Weiss notes that parents in every state can prevent a child who they feel is not ready for driving from getting a license. For example, a child who has problems with attention, or who has abused drugs or alcohol, may not be ready to drive safely until age 18 (or later).

If your teen seems ready to start driving, consider drawing up and signing a parent-teen contract. Sit down with your teen and talk about rules for safe driving, and agree on punishments for breaking the rules.

“For my kids, I said ‘For the first three months, no passengers, and no driving after nine o’clock,’” Dr. Weiss recalls. “When I saw that they were driving safe, and they’d logged in enough miles that they could control the car—well, then we began to ease up on the night curfew and some of the passenger restrictions.”

Aside from just waiting to get older…what can teens do to become better, safer drivers?

First, tackle the easy stuff:
•    Wear a seatbelt whenever you’re in a car or truck. (Check the latest figures on passenger vehicle fatalities, and you’ll find that most of the 15- to 20-year-olds who died were not wearing seat belts.)
•    Keep more distance between you and the car in front than you think is necessary. Avoid driving in wet weather, or at least slow down.
•    If you have a choice, run errands in the daytime. Night driving is riskier for everyone, but especially for new drivers.
•    Get a ride if you’ve been drinking or taking drugs (that includes legal drugs such as over-the-counter cold and allergy medications, which can make you drowsy).

Consider talking with your parents about what to do if you can’t find a sober or rested driver (e.g., calling home—no questions asked—for a ride, or carrying the phone number, plus cash, for a taxi service). Given that car accidents are the #1 cause of death for teens, your safety should be their top priority.

Plan ahead to reduce distractions; for example, find your favorite music before you start to drive.

Until you’ve been driving at least six months, limit the number of friends who ride with you. Driving with two or more friends increases the risk for all of you.

If you need to send a text message or answer a call, hand the phone to a friend, or find a place to pull over where you can focus. (After all, that caller deserves your full attention.) A hands-free cell phone is of little help; your attention is still dangerously divided between the caller and the road.

Get skills training. Reviews of crash data show that teen drivers are weaker in visually scanning the road for hazards, keeping their attention focused, and managing their driving speed. With  funding from NHTSA, researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Human Performance Laboratory developed training videos and computer software to build these critical skills. To find out more, visit their web site.

For more information on teen driving, and how to be a better driver…

USA.gov has information for teen drivers

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has safety resources for teens and their parents

Get information about, and an evaluation of, PC-based training on risk awareness for new drivers, from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst

The Novice Driver’s Road Map has detailed information for parents who are serving as driving coaches for their teens, including eight progressive practice sessions. The printed booklet costs $15, from the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety

Are you road ready for school? is a pre-drive checklist for teens to make driving safer and more comfortable

Q&A on graduated driver licensing for teens, from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Sources for this article: Brainlink.org

Image credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveparker/