PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As National Teen Driver Safety Week wraps up this weekend, PennDOT is reminding parents and young drivers of their responsibility to stay safe on the roads.
Every parent of a teen driver knows the feeling of handing over the car keys, and watching them drive away. But lurking behind that feeling is a sobering fact — motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for teens.
"From 2017 to 2021, there were 81,364 crashes involving at least one 16- to 19-year-old driver in Pennsylvania, resulting in 480 fatalities," said PennDOT's Diego Sandino.
"66% of crashes involving teenage drivers were due to either driving too fast for conditions, just regular driver inexperience, driver distractions or improper careless turning."
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Sandino recently shared driver safety knowledge with a group of high school students. He stressed that both parents and teachers have an important role to play in helping new drivers establish safe driving habits.
“Have a regular conversation with your teenager about safe driving skills before they get their learners permit," he suggested. "Make sure that you establish a parent-teen driving contract and ride with your teen occasionally after they received a license, to monitor driving skills."
Sandino also warned of the constant issue of distracted driving. In just five seconds of looking away, he said, a person driving 55 miles per hour will travel more than the length of a football field without realizing it.
He said the risk of a crash involving teenagers can be reduced through practice, limiting the number of passengers riding with a new driver, obeying all rules of the road, and using common sense. Moreover, he recommended parents serve as an example.