If you’re considering adding a brand-new teenage driver to your car insurance, you may be interested in the results of a recent study. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety researchers studied crashes involving 16-year-olds. Not surprisingly, these teens get into more crashes than older people—including older teens. The investigators found that simply not paying enough attention to their driving or their surroundings was a big reason for accidents.

One teen described the circumstances of an accident in this way: “I guess I wasn’t really thinking what I was doing and, um, as I was driving I sneezed. And um, like, my eyes closed and everything, and then at the same moment my cell phone went off, and I forgot to put it on vibrate like I usually do, which surprised me. I went down to look at it, and when I looked up I was off the road and went to swerve and hit a mailbox.”

According to the study, these beginner drivers were at fault in 68% of the crashes, 95% of which involved a single vehicle. Nearly 40% of the crashes involved running off the road, and another 30% involved hitting the backs of other vehicles. The main reasons identified for at-fault collisions in the study were speeding, skidding and/or losing control, difficulties with slippery roads, and failing to notice another vehicle or a traffic signal.

Distractions abound for these teenage drivers. Some just don’t look thoroughly. Others are caught up in attending to CD players, radios, friends in or out of the car, cell phones or even opening a window to throw trash out.

Gender does make a difference in the statistics. Males were much more likely to speed or lose control of their vehicles than females in the study. Females were more likely to rear-end another vehicle, while males ran off the road more often.

So, what can we do about these known risks for new drivers? Driver education has not been demonstrated to be helpful. However, some of the new electronic technologies in vehicles that can monitor speeding or distance to a vehicle in front can help, but they are only on the horizon for most car owners. In the meantime, additional adult supervision and positive coaching and feedback for new drivers may be a good idea as well.

For a copy of “Crashes of Novice Teenage Drivers: Characteristics and Contributing Factors” by K.A. Braitman, et. al., email: publications@iihs.org.

More Car Insurance Articles