Every age group in our society is living longer except one: teenagers between the age of 16 to 18. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young people 15 to 20 years of age.

CHOICES

Alcohol

7.2 million youth between the ages of 12 and 17 drank alcohol at least once within the last year. 2.7 million drank once a month or more within the last year.

Every day, 7,000 youth under the age of 16 have their first taste of alcohol.

Girls between the ages of 12 and 17 are just as likely as boys to drink alcohol.

A 2003 survey showed that 7.2 million underage youth reported binge drinking – having five or more drinks on a single occasion – in the 30 days before the survey.

4,554: The annual estimate of underage deaths due to excessive alcohol use.

In 2003, 31 percent of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher. North Carolina considers a person impaired when he or she has a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher.

Anyone under 21 caught drinking and driving in North Carolina could lose their license for a year, regardless of the amount of alcohol in the body.

False ID
Creating a fake identification card is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 100 hours of community service and $1,000 fine. Selling a reproduced or false driver’s license or learner’s permit is a Class I felony.

Using someone else’s identification is a Class 1 misdemeanor. And the true owner of the identification is subject to a license revocation.

Teen pregnancy
An estimated one million teenagers get pregnant every year.

Teen mothers are less likely to graduate from high school and more likely than their peers to live in poverty and rely on welfare.

Children of teenage mothers are often born at low birth weight, experience health and developmental problems and are frequently poor, abused and/or neglected.

Teenage pregnancy costs society $7 billion annually in lost tax revenues, public assistance, child health care, foster care, and involvement with the criminal justice system.

RECKLESS

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the United States.

3,657 drivers ages 15 to 20 died in vehicle crashes in 2003. Another 308,000 were injured in crashes.

In 2003, the fatality rate in motor vehicle crashes for 16-to-20-year-olds was more than twice the rate than for all other ages combined.

During 2003, a teen died in a traffic crash an average of once every hour on weekends and nearly once every two hours during the week.

Two-thirds of teens killed in fatal crashes were not wearing seat belts.

82 percent of accidents involving 16-year-old drivers are caused by inexperience and risk-taking.

Drivers at 16 are more likely to get involved in an accident than at any other time in their lives.

Teen drivers killed in motor vehicle accidents had a youth passenger in the vehicle 45 percent of the time.

When a young driver carries one passenger, the risk of being involved in a fatal crash increases by 33 percent. Two or more passengers more than double that risk.

SPEED

Nationally speed accounted for more than one-third of all automobile fatalities involving teenagers.

Teenagers' crashes and violations are more likely to involve speeding than those of older drivers.

About 2 out of every 3 teens killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2003 were males.

A conviction for prearranged street racing in North Carolina can lead to a minimum three-year license revocation.

Nationwide statistics show that 49 people are injured for every 1,000 who participate in illegal street racing.

In 2001, street racing was a factor in 135 fatal crashes nationwide, nearly double the amount from the previous year.

Statistics courtesy of
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health
Planned Parenthood
United States Department of Health and Human Services
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
Insurance Institute of Highway Safety
DriveHomeSafe.com
Insurance Institute of Highway Safety
The National Hot Rod Association