New Study Reveals the Most Common Driving Errors Teens Make

Sat, 8/26/2017 - 7:05 pm by Kirsten Rincon

There are various factors that put teen drivers at a greater risk of being in a crash than older drivers, with inexperience and lack of skills being the most common ones. But so far, no one has been able to pinpoint what specific driving skills teens need to acquire in order to become more well-versed drivers and reduce their risk of crashes. That’s exactly what researchers with the The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) wanted to do when they conducted a study involving teens on a driving simulator, that was supposed to help them determine the most common driving errors committed by teenagers.

They found that passing road skills test doesn’t automatically make teens good drivers, and they are at a very high risk of accidents during the first 2-3 years after getting a driver’s license. Researchers used the Simulated Driving Assessment (SDA), a driving simulator that allowed them to see how teens handle a variety of potentially dangerous traffic scenarios that could result in accidents.

They put a group of novice drivers on the simulator, as well as a group of more experienced drivers, and compared their results. The results confirmed one well-known fact, that novice drivers are much more likely to get in an accident than those have been driving for a longer period of time, with 43 percent of the newly-licensed teens (who obtained their licenses less than three months prior to the study), getting in at least one accident, as compared to 29 percent of the adult drivers.

But, in addition to the fact that newly-licensed drivers tend to crash more often, this study also revealed the most common errors leading to their accidents. Researchers discovered the top three critical mistakes that caused most of the accidents teens were involved in while using the driving simulator: inadequate braking in hazardous situations, following another vehicle too closely, and lack of scanning at a left turn.

These findings can be of great help to driving instructors as they try to help teens become safe drivers. The researchers suggest that the majority of accidents involving teen drivers can be prevented if they learn the importance of keeping a safe following distance between them and the vehicle in front of them, if they avoid distractions of any kind, and if they pay closer attention to the road ahead and their surroundings while behind the wheel.

“When we put new drivers on the road without ensuring that they have the necessary skills to drive safely, why are we surprised when they crash? We shouldn’t be,” said CHOP’s Flaura Winston, principal investigator for the SDA line of research. “We’re providing the science behind the answer to why teens –and some adults– don’t drive well”.