Reckless driving is a very serious issue. How could it not be considered one when loss of life and property, and even serious injuries and damages are always involved? Its level of seriousness is such that there is no one who is in his right mind who’d even want to be remotely involved in situations involving reckless driving.
To be involved in a case of reckless driving can definitely be a life changing matter, that’s how serious it is. And when you start talking about teenagers being involved in it, then you could just imagine the kind of impact that it would have on everyone that’s involved.
Thinking of the kind of impact that reckless driving involving teens can potentially have on society is certainly an important and serious issue. You can even say that since teens are involved, the stakes are definitely raised higher than any usual case of reckless driving. There are a number of reasons why that is so true.
The recklessness that seems to be inherent in people during their teenage years certainly does not lend itself well to driving. If any, that actually leads to reckless driving – with the expected consequences and repercussions of it. The National Safety Council itself has already given the statement that the part of the brain that specifically helps in suppressing impulses, weighing the consequences, and organizing thoughts is not fully mature until a person reaches the age of 25.
Additional factors include the hormones that we all know are raging within all of us and affect our actions and behavior during our teenaged years. And teenagers also learn to drive under what can only be described as optimal or ideal conditions. The problems and hazardous conditions would not be encountered until later on when the teens are already out on the road.
As far as statistics are concerned, the Center for Disease Control states that here in the United States in 2005, about 4,544 teenagers (aged 16 to 19) died from injuries that they sustained because of being involved in motor vehicle crashes. A very telling statistic was revealed by the CDC – in 2005 the teenager population in the US accounted for about 10 percent of the country’s total population, but when it came to deaths involved in motor vehicle crashes, teens accounted for 12 percent.
I believe that everyone would agree that losing people’s lives far outweigh any other form or type of loss that results from motor vehicle accidents, but one can’t help but notice how much it costs as well. For the total costs of vehicle injuries in males, 30 percent of that number actually involves young people (aged 15 to 24) and is equivalent to $19 billion. For females, the figures show that 28 percent are young people, which accounts for $7 billion in total costs.
Probably the best thing that can be done is to make use of a graduated licensing program. Talking to teenagers about the dangers of reckless driving is also one of the things that are being done in order to help in reduce the incidence of reckless driving among teenagers.