A 15-year-old girl was killed recently in a tragic Alabama accident. According to Alabama.com, the car the victim was in was being driven by a 16-year-old driver at the time of the incident. The vehicle was struck on the passenger side. Both teens in the vehicle were unconscious when authorities arrived. The 16-year-old driver was injured, but has been listed in stable condition. The cause of the crash is still being investigated by law enforcement.
The teen girl killed in this accident was one of many young people who lose their life each year in car accidents in Alabama and throughout the United States.
Teen drivers are inexperienced and are the most likely demographic group to die in collisions. Their risk of death is, unfortunately, exacerbated if the teen driver has passengers in the car, as was the case in this recent Alabama accident.
Alabama Teens Face Big Car Accident Risks When Passengers Ride With Them
AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reported on the link between teens having younger passengers in the car with them and teens being alone or with an adult. The results were troubling. In cases where a teen driver was accompanied by one passenger under 21, like this recent accident, there is a 44 percent increase in crash risk per mile compared with the crash risk per mile of a teen diving alone.
If a teen driver has two or more passengers with him or her in the car, the risk of a collision is fully doubled. Three passengers or more means quadrupled risk compared with having no passengers By contrast, it a teen driver has an adult passenger aged 35 or older, there is a 62 percent decrease in the per-mile crash risk. This suggests parents should try to spend as much time as possible driving with their teens, and it also suggests having passengers should be significantly limited for young drivers.
Alabama does have graduated licensing rules, as many states do to try to prevent teen car accidents. In Alabama, the minimum age to get a learner’s permit is 15 and a learner’s permit must be kept for at least six months before moving towards a license. Those with a learner’s permit will also need to do at least 30 hours of supervised driving, unless they take driver’s education.
A driver in Alabama has to be 16 to get a license, and teen drivers will first start with an intermediate license. This comes with some driving restrictions, including a prohibition on driving between midnight and six AM and a limit of having just one passenger in the car at a time unless the passengers are family.
It is not until a driver is 17 that he gets a full unrestricted license in Alabama. Parents should be sure to enforce these rules as it is the law, and as it can save lives and potentially help to prevent more tragic accidents like the one which led to a 15-year-old’s death.
