Tag Archives: teen traffic safety

Teen Drivers Speeding

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The Northeast Florida Community Traffic Safety Team examines the tragic trend of teen drivers speeding.

Teens and Speeding: Breaking the Deadly Cycle Report

In January, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), in partnership with Ford Motor Company Fund, released a new report, Teens and Speeding: Breaking the Deadly Cycle.  The new analysis for GHSA found that from 2015 to 2019, teen drivers and passengers (16-19 years of age) accounted for a greater proportion of speeding-related fatalities (43%) than all other age groups (30%). During this five-year period, 4,930 teen drivers and passengers died in speeding-related crashes in the United States.

Recently, we created and shared a video of a local teen driver. He shared his reasons not to speed after receiving a hefty speeding citation. His story is a positive one as no one was hurt. Unfortunately, there are too many injuries and fatalities among teenage drivers and passengers.

Teen Driver Statistics in FDOT District Two

FDOT District Two had 6,928 total teen driver crashes in 2019. Despite a strong Graduated Driver License (GDL) law in Florida, we are still experiencing a high volume of teen crashes. Below are some more statistics on teen drivers in our communities.

NOTE: Fatal/Serious/Other Injury in bar graphs indicates persons not crashes.
SOURCES: 2019 CARS data (unofficial at time of report)

The numbers of crashes with injuries increase as inexperienced teen drivers get more confident and start showing careless driving behaviors like speeding. Males and females injured in teen driver crashes are about even. Serious injuries and fatalities are predominantly male, by almost double. Duval County, with the higher populated–urban areas, illustrates a drastic increase of injuries and fatalities among teen drivers. Together, our traffic safety community, partners, parents and caregivers can help reduce risky and careless teen driving through education, training, and law enforcement.

More Teens and Speeding Reports

Click here to read the complete GHSA news release: As Traffic Deaths Spike During COVID-19, New Report Examines Unsettling Trend of Teen Drivers Speeding – and Dying – on America’s Roads.

Click here for the full GHSA and Ford Motor Company Fund PDF report: Teens and Speeding: Breaking the Deadly Cycle, which examines the significant role speeding plays in teen driver fatalities and offers practical tools to help parents rein in this lethal driving habit.

Additional Teen Drivers Speeding Resources:
• Florida Teen Safe Driving Coaltion
• FDOT State Safety Office – Speeding and Aggressive Driving

Traffic Safety

Drive to Save Lives

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U R The Key: Drive to Save Lives tour at area high schools

Car crashes continue to be the number one cause of death of teens. Cara Filler, whose identical twin sister was killed in a crash while riding with her boyfriend, who was speeding and showboating, presented Drive to Save Lives to many Jacksonville and St. Augustine high school students. She uses her personal tragedy to educate teens in a positive and simple way on how to be a safe passenger, how to get out of driving with an impaired or dangerous driver, and how to take personal charge of your own safety, emphasizing “your life, your choice.”

Special thanks to Florida SADD and grants from State Farm and the Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition for making Cara’s life-saving presentations available at eight of our schools.

Your Community Traffic Safety Team and other educational outreach of groups such as SADD and the Teen Safe Driving Coalition continue to do all possible to decrease teen deaths on our roadways. Through presentations such as Cara’s, our community leaders and partners are helping to ensure that teen drivers have the information, motivation, and tools to keep them safe on the road.

Cara’s powerful presentation will not be forgotten by students and faculty, whose response was enthusiastic and positive. A video recorded and produced by Favorite Studios is a highlight of the full presentation.