Deadly Pickup Truck Accidents Remain High Among Teen Drivers

10/27/2010
Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton
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Deadly Pickup Truck Accidents Remain High Among Teen Drivers

How's this for a rare piece of good news: "Fatal Crashes Involving Teen Drivers Dropped 36% Over 5 Years"?

Pretty great. But, sadly, far from the whole story told by U.S. traffic accident statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on October 21, 2010. CDC analysts pored over data on accidents involving cars, pickups, tractor-trailers, buses, motorcycles and other vehicles between 2004 and 2008. The researchers found that improvements in driver education and training, motor vehicle safety, road design and enforcement of seat belt, drunk driving and anti-texting laws drove down overal numbers and rates of deaths on America's roads and highways.
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That overall decline in the number of lives lost, however, covers up the growing number of rural, pickup truck-driving teens who die each year when they have accidents because they allow themselves to become distracted, lose control of their trucks or simply make "rookie" mistakes behind the wheel. A recent feature story in the Gainesville (FL) Sun summarizes four fatal teen driving accidents on country roads in a single county in just the past year. Three of the accidents involved an SUV or pickup.

Casting even more light on this tragic trend, researchers at the University of Texas (TX) discovered that "young drivers driving an SUV or a pickup truck, driving during the morning rush hour, and driving on roads with high speed limits are also found to trigger aggressive driving behavior." Those tendencies translate into higher numbers of accidents resulting in injuries and deaths.

The numbers, then, add up to serious risks for young divers who each day travel through the largely rural -- and highway-oriented -- areas of Chesapeake and Suffolk, Virginia (VA) and the northeastern part of North Carolina (NC). There are several villages on the Outer Banks that people can only reach via SUV or pickup. The ways to reduce those risks are to buckle up, never drive while impaired by alcohol or drugs, never use cell phones while driving and always obey speed limits.

EJL

Category: Crashes Caused by Trucks

Labels: accident car Cooper crash death distracted driving drunk driving highway injuries lawyer loss of life NC pickup truck SUV teen truck va

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a law firm whose attorneys focus on injury law and have experience handling truck accident cases. Check out our truck accident case results and download our free consumer guide on what to do if you get into a wreck with a commercial truck. We serve every area of North Carolina, including the Outer Banks, Nags Head and the western mountains, as well as all the cities and counties in between. In South Carolina, we cover the state from Myrtle Beach and Charleston to Orangeburg, Columbia, Florence, Rock Hill, Darlington, Aiken, Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg.

Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been listed among the Best Lawyers in America since 2010 and have been listed in the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009. The firm has been recognized as one of the Best Injury Law Firms in North Carolina for personal injury plaintiffs since 2010 by U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, and our firm has the highest rating of AV from national lawyer ranking organization Martindale-Hubbell. That means we have a reputation for demonstrating preeminent legal skill.

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Deadly Pickup Truck Accidents Remain High Among Teen Drivers

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