No more teen drivers at 12 am until 6 am. This is according to the federal health officials, as reported on Thursday, July 28, 2016.
Teen driving accidents are quite high in statistics and around 30 percent happen at night, particularly before 12 am. This is based on the reports presented by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Taking the teens out of the road at 12 am would mean that there will be fewer accidents but also less night life terrors as well: gangs, drugs, and even early pregnancy.
The teens who have high risk for motor vehicle accidents, according to CDC, are males, teens driving with teen passengers, and newly licensed teens. Perhaps, these are among the main considerations to focus to solve the problem. The restriction may even be limited to these. Apparently, teens should also be educated and disciplined when it comes to using their seatbelts and mentality to "not to drink and drive". CDC warns drivers especially the teens to take note of the 8 Danger Zones:
- Driver inexperience
- Driving with teen passengers
- Nighttime driving
- Not using seat belts
- Distracted driving
- Drowsy driving
- Reckless driving
- Impaired driving
49 states restrict nighttime driving (not just for teens but for everyone) as part of a graduated licensing program. However, 23 states prohibit driving only after midnight. Ruth Shults, a senior epidemiologist in the division of unintentional injury prevention at the CDC said that, "Restrictions that start at 12 a.m. or later aren't really protective... they aren't providing protection for the majority of teen drivers who are out at night." She added that if teens will be restricted from the road at specific time, the benefit will also be for the accommodation of those who work, play sports or engage in other activities at night.
Banning the teens from the road late in the evening until dawn would not help 100% in decreasing the rate of fatalities in teen driving. Experts suggest that values in the families will be more reliable on this matter.
