It is true that experienced drivers still make mistakes and cause car accidents. Someone may have been driving for decades, but deciding to look at their cellphone when it rings takes their eyes off of the road and leads them to run a stop sign, for example. Another driver may be under the influence of alcohol, so their experience can’t stop them from making crucial errors.
However, from a statistical perspective, it’s clear that experience does play a major role. You can see this by looking at the fatal car accident rate for drivers between 16 and 19 years old. It is higher than the rate for any other age group, demonstrating how drivers become safer as they get older and gain more experience.
A double-edged sword
The problem with this is that it’s very hard to prevent teen drivers from causing these accidents. In order to gain the experience that they need to drive safely, they have to spend time behind the wheel. For the first few years that they have their license, it’s far more likely that they’re going to cause serious car accidents.
There are some steps that other drivers can take to reduce the risk that they face. Being a defensive driver is often wise. Other drivers can sometimes anticipate the mistakes that teens are going to make or take proactive steps, like always ensuring that they have a proper following distance so that they can react when something unexpected happens.
But the stats do make it clear that teens will continue causing these serious crashes, and others may be injured or even lose loved ones as a result. Those who have need to know how to seek financial compensation.
