New AAA research shows when a teen driver has teen passengers in their cars, fatality rate goes up for everyone involved in a crash.
As part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, AAA's research found nearly two-thirds of the people injured or killed in teen driver crashes are other road users.
In Oregon, there were 36 fatalities in crashes involving teen drivers in 2016. 31% of fatalities were the teen drivers, 19% were teen passengers, 31% were occupants of other vehicles, and 19% were pedestrians and cyclists.
Researchers pinpointed that when teens were carrying teen passengers, fatality rates jumped to 56% for occupants of other vehicles, 45% for the teen driver, and 17% for pedestrians and cyclists.
Marie Dodds, Public Affairs Director for AAA Oregon/Idaho, says parental involvement is key during the learn-to-drive process, and that teens need supervised training in different driving scenarios. They urge parents to set and consistently enforce rules to limiting teenage passengers in the vehicle.
You can find more tips and plenty of resources at TeenDriving.AAA.com.