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The following answer is provided by Dan Keating, Ph.D., Bancroft’s Vice President of Family Services and Government Relations. An expert in the field of brain injury rehabilitation, Dr. Keating serves on the Professional Advisory Board of the Brain Injury Association of Delaware and was recently named to the board of trustees for the Pennsylvania and Maine brain injury associations

It is very important for parents to talk with their teen age children about driving safety.  Teens who are learning to drive are about to take on one of the most significant responsibilities with which they will be entrusted in their lives.  Yet, because it is so much a given right of passage it is often not looked at as seriously as it should be.  Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a Washington, DC coalition of insurance companies, and consumer, medical and safety agencies  encourages people not to text or use cell phones while driving, and to wear seat belts.  Furthermore, teenage drivers should not have more than one non-family member passenger in the car during their first years of driving.

One of the reasons for their position on these issues is that a large number of automobile accidents result in significant brain injuries.  1.4 Million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year; of those more than 50,000 people die and 80,000-90,000 a year experience the onset of long-term disability following TBI.  Approximately twenty percent (20%) of all brain injuries are caused by automobile accidents.   Teens in the age bracket 15 to 19 years old are at high risk for acquiring a brain injury, many from automobile accidents.

Teen drivers may be easily distracted by talking on their cell phones, texting their friends or looking for information on the internet.  Teen reflexes may not be as developed on the highways because they are new to the dynamic interactions among other drivers, the road conditions and their own vigilance.  Having too many friends in the car is also a prime cause of inattention.  The group may be more focused upon the playful antics of teenage life or what is being played on the auto’s sound system. 

Driving is a privilege that requires consistent and constant vigilance and focus.  Teens do not have sufficient driving experience to allow themselves to be distracted by their cell phones and their friends.  The consequences can be grave.