Houston Car Crash Lawyers Provide Teen Driver Safety Week Tips

October 16-22 is National Teen Driver Safety Week. During this week, we focus on the importance of educating teen drivers to be safe and aware when they are behind the wheel. By educating teens and stressing the importance of driving cautiously, we hope to decrease the number of Houston car accidents involving teen drivers.
Teen drivers between the ages of 16 and 19 years old are at four times higher risk of fatal accident injuries than drivers who between 25 and 69 years old. Not only do these drivers have a higher risk than older, more experienced drivers, but their risk also increases when other teens are present in the vehicle. For example, if a teen is driving with another teen in the passenger seat, their risk of suffering a fatal accident doubles. If there are 3 or more teen passengers, the risk of a fatal accident quadruples.

In order to decrease teenagers’ risk of suffering injuries in an accident, we need to first address the underlying causes.

• Inexperience – One of the main causes of accidents comes down to simple inexperience. Driving is a learning process, and teens will not know how to properly handle a vehicle without some practice.
• Distractions – Distractions such as passengers, music, eating or just daydreaming play a large role in teen crashes.
• Nighttime driving – It is much harder to see at night. Make sure teens are comfortable with daytime driving before moving to nighttime driving.
• Inclement weather – Weather conditions change the way a vehicle handles. Teens may not allow for more room to stop on slick roads or may overreact is their vehicle starts to slide.
• Reckless driving – Teens like to appear cool to their friends, which may lead them to make reckless driving decisions such as speeding, tailgating, or swerving between lanes of traffic.

If a teen you know and love has been seriously injured in a car accident in Houston, you need to seek legal help. Contact a Houston car accident lawyer at Denena & Points to learn more about your rights to seek compensation after a serious accident.