Young Drivers and Deadly Passengers

"Three teenage passengers killed themselves and their driver in a horrific crash last night."

It's a headline you will never see. Drivers are required to be in control, whatever their passengers do.

Yet it is well documented that the crash rate of young drivers is greatly increased when they carry peer passengers. This article is about how this happens, and how the effect can be prevented. It sets out 'passenger skills'.

The risk multiplies quickly for each extra young passenger. Especially at night, and for male drivers and passengers - though both sexes are substantially affected. With three or more passengers the risk can be four times that of driving alone...

.. 'how-to-do-it-safely' is a better and fairer approach than 'just-stop-doing-it' ..

.. drivers and passengers can make use of specific skills ..

.. there are three main things happening in these cars ..

.. skills for young drivers...to prevent increasing risk when you have peer passengers ..

.. skills for young passengers...to stop a young driver's crash risk rising when you are in the car ..

.. keener to 'learn skills' than to 'take advice' ..

.. thinking very hard about how to teach young people to manage risk safely ..

see more... download the full pdf article