It’s been well-established that 16- and 17-year-old drivers lack the experience to know how to aptly handle some of the curve balls our roads throws at them.

That’s why graduated driver’s license laws are so important. Our Columbia car accident lawyers know that for some time, it seemed as if those measures were effective. The number of motor vehicle crashes and fatalities involving young drivers was down.

Now suddenly, we appear to be doing an about-face, according to a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association.

The organization tracks fatalities of drivers who are under 18. The recent downward trend was reversed in looking at the first six months of 2012 compared to the first six months of 2011 – and there is every reason to believe that increase is continuing.

Nationwide in the first six months of 2012, the number of 16-year-old passenger vehicle drivers who died on our roadways increased by nearly 25 percent, from 86 to 107. Likewise, deaths of 17-year-old drivers spiked by 15 percent, from 116 in 2011 to 133 in 2012. Figuring the average of both, the GHSA reported an overall increase of 19 percent.

When broken down by state, 25 – including South Carolina – saw an increase, 17 saw a decrease and 8 states (plus the District of Columbia) remained static. Of those states that saw an increasing number of deaths, six of those reported an increase of five or more.

South Carolina’s teen driver fatality rate doubled, from 4 to 8.

Recognizing that this may not sound like a huge number, one must remember we’re talking only about the deaths of the teen drivers – not their passengers. Many more were injured.

Six-month figures for teen passenger deaths in 2012 aren’t yet available. So what we must go on are the driver fatalities, and this upward shift is beyond troubling. Researchers have a few potential explanations.

The first is our overall improved economic status. In a struggling economy, we were seeing fewer people on the roads – period. Fewer jobs, less money for gas – these were things that probably hit the teenage subset perhaps harder than others. Now that we are inching closer to recovery, people are driving more. That inevitably leads to more wrecks.

The second factor is a huge and growing problem, particularly with younger drivers. That is distraction. They are not the only drivers prone to it, but teens appear particularly susceptible to distractions while behind the wheel. We know that teens are among the earliest adopters and aggressive users of new technology, and distractions in general are going to pose greater risks to drivers with less experience. In a sense, they have less attentional capacity to spare. With cell phone technology expanding at an ever-increasing clip, the dangers have never been more pronounced.

And finally, states have slowed with regard to their adoption of graduated driver’s license laws. It was a movement that gained rapid traction in the 1990s, but has since seemed to slow. It is true that many states have adopted significant measures that allowed new drivers to work their way up to advancing responsibilities behind the wheel. But many states have fallen short, and are now seeing the consequences.

If you are injured in a Columbia car accident, contact Matthews & Megna today at 877-253-7705.