Kentucky leads US in most teen driving deaths four years in a row
For the fourth year in a row, Kentucky has the nation’s most teenage driving fatalities.
For every 100,000 teenage drivers, there are 114.25 deaths in the Bluegrass State, according to Zutobi, a for-profit driver education company. It compiled its data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and its Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool.
Over the past three years in Kentucky, there were more than 48,000 crashes involving a teenage driver, resulting in more than 13,000 injuries and 210 deaths, according to the state transportation cabinet’s office of highway safety.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Teens are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers per mile driven, the administration reports.
During National Teen Driver Safety Week, from Oct. 19 to Oct. 25, Kentucky’s Transportation Cabinet participated in a number of initiatives to reward safe behaviors, offer hands-on training and develop a program to educate parents and their children on the requirements for obtaining a driver’s license.
“While nothing beats the experience that comes with driving, we are making sure we’re doing our part by offering teens access to resources and ensuring our roads and bridges are safe for all drivers,” Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said in a statement. “Caregivers can help by setting clear rules and modeling safe driving habits to help reduce the risks teen drivers face on the road.”
The traffic safety administration has these basic rules for the road:
- Avoid distracted driving.
- Wear seat belts.
- Minimize passengers.
- Obey speed limits.
- Drive sober.
- Don’t drive drowsy.
In March, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed legislation that lowered the minimum age to apply for an instructional permit from 16 to 15 years old.
Those applying for a Kentucky driver’s license must be at least 15 to take a written and vision test and present required documents. Permit holders must keep the permit for at least 180 days, and log 60 hours of practice driving with a licensed adult. Ten of those hours must be completed at night.
Once the hours are complete, an intermediate license is issued following a road test. The permitted driver can operate a car alone, but not between midnight and 6 a.m. After completing the graduated driver licensing course and holding the intermediate license for 180 days, drivers over 17 can get their unrestricted license.
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