ANALYSIS OF THE FATAL CRASH INVOLVEMENTS OF 15-YEAR-OLD DRIVERS

Fatal crash involvements of 15-year-old drivers were tabulated for the period 1989 through 1993 for 33 states that issue learner's permits t o 15-year-olds, but do not grant regular licenses until age 16. Most 1 5-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes either did not hold a lea rner's permit (57%) or were operating in violation of the terms of the ir permit at the time of the crash (16%). Compared with 16-year-olds, the fatal crashes of 15-year-olds were more often single-vehicle crash es, late at night, with many passengers in their vehicle, and involved driver factors, such as speeding and failure to drive in the proper l ane. Illegal drivers-those without permit or License, and those with p ermits but unsupervised-were more likely than those driving legally to be culpable and to be in single-vehicle crashes. There were relativel y few fatal crash involvements for 15-year-old learner's permit holder s engaged in supervised practice driving as permitted by state law. An alysis of these few, and characteristically different, events suggests that learning drivers should limit driving on high speed roads and av oid driving with occupants other than the driver and supervisor. (C) 1 997 National Safety Council and Elsevier Science Ltd.