Youth Impaired Driving: Causes and Cotintermeasuies

Traumatic injury is responsible for more deaths among American adolescents and young adults age 14-24 than all other causes combined (Paulson 1983). Far and away the leading cause of traumatic injuries is traffic crashes (Robertson 1981; Lewis 1987). Traffic crashes have been cited as the cause of about half of all accidental deaths in adolescents and young adults and have also been cited as the cause of half of all spinal cord injuries (Robertson 1981). Not only adolescent drivers, but also their passengers (who tend to be adolescents) are at significantly increased risk when compared to older age groups (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 1984).