As enrollment for Drivers Education classes are approaching San Pasqual High School, more and more students from the age of fifteen to eighteen are beginning to take on the road.

 This is an exciting moment in a young person’s life, but it could also be the most petrifying time.

Statistics show that teens from the age of fifteen to eighteen are known for getting involved in car accidents.

“Almost 80,000 people get killed in traffic accidents involving drivers aged 16-20,” said Raj Vardhman from carsurance.net. 

Driving comes with many responsibilities and, if you don’t take the right precautions, then it can lead to negative outcomes. 

“The most common cause of accidents resulting in death are drunk driving (40%), speeding (30%), and irresponsible driving (33%),” said Raj Vardhman from carsurance.net.

 Many believe that before teens start driving on the road their, parents and driving instructors should make sure that the teen has had enough experience/skills needed to drive on an actual road.

“Car accident prevention begins with helping teens gain experience and skills necessary to stay safe on the road,” said the teendriversource.org.

They say that teens who are learning how to drive need to have rules set by their parents, in order to become responsible for when they are ready to take on the open road on their own or even when they are ready to fly away from the nest.

“Teens who say their parents set rules and pay attention to their activities in a helpful, supportive way are half as likely to crash,” said teendriversource.org.

Many car accidents that are caused by teens are caused due to lack of responsibility and lack of positive influences, which can cause teens to break certain laws that are placed to keep everyone safe.

The most common law that is broken by teen drivers is the wireless communication law. The wireless communications device law states, “No driver in California may write, send or read text messages while behind the wheel,” according to dmv.org.

Teens may face severe consequences for breaking the wireless communications law. “If caught breaking the law you will be fined: first offense; $20, second offense and subsequent convictions $50,” said dmv.org.

Teens are beginning to develop unhealthy habits such as doing drugs or consuming alcohol, and as they begin driving they will tend to mix these two entities together. 

“If an underage driver is found to have blood alcohol concentration of .01% or higher, their license will be suspended for a whole year,” said driversed.com.

Irresponsible actions like these may lead to a misfortunate accident between the careless driver and another driver. Statistics show that the U.S has the most car accidents per year involving teens and adults.

“There are nearly 40,000 fatal car accidents per year in the U.S,” said Raj Vardhman

In order to prevent or help others prevent a misfortune from happening to you and others. Teens should remember to follow the rules of the road, whether they are a teen learning how to drive or a teen whose first day of drivers ed is soon. Most importantly, they must drive with caution and responsibility, to keep everyone around them safe.