Risk of Teenagers Behind the wheel
Assignment Number: U05A1
Eric Anderson
eanderson42569@hotmail.com
BUS 3004
Developing a Business Perspective
December 10, 2009
Introduction
For this paper, I will address the dangers of teenage driving. Motor vehicle accidents remain the leading cause of death in youths from 16 to 20 years of age. The motor vehicle fatality rate of teenagers is higher than that of any other age group. Sixteen-year-old drivers are more than 20 times as likely to have an accident as the general population and 17-year-old drivers are more than 6 times as likely to have an accident. For every adolescent killed in a motor vehicle crash, about 100 non-fatal injuries occur. (Dr. Moshe Ipp January 1997) The magnitude of the problem of young drivers is clear and physicians must become involved in counseling and other related programs to prevent this massive epidemic.
There are three main risk factors that take account for the high incidence of adolescent motor vehicle accidents, first the adolescent’s overall judgment and decision-making ability may not be fully developed. Furthermore, the adolescent, as a novice driver, lacks the experience and ability to perform many of the complex tasks of ordinary driving. Finally It is well known that compared with experienced drivers, the adolescent is less proficient in detecting and responding to hazards, controlling the vehicle and integrating speed. (Dr. Moshe Ipp January 1997)
Body
Of all the teenagers who will die this year, more will meet their deaths in the twisted metal of a car crash than in any other way. If statistics hold, two-thirds of those kids won’t be driving. Teenage drivers will kill not only themselves and their friends, but one out of five people who dies in a car crash. (Ulmer, R.G.; Preusser, D.F.; Williams, A.F.; Ferguson, S.A.; and Farmer, C.M. 2000)
And yet, most people believe that drug addiction is the greatest threat to teenagers, not car accidents....