While only 5% of drivers on the road are between the ages of 15 and 20, this organization accounts for up to 12% of car accidents and more than 8% of fatal accidents annually. New drivers, especially those between the ages of 15 and 20, are at particularly higher risk of road injuries than experienced and older drivers. Most injuries occur within the first few months after obtaining a license, and their occurrence decreases in the months and years that follow.
A study published in the October 2023 issue of Pediatrics used a virtual driving assessment tool to identify newly licensed teens who were at risk of being involved in a car accident. The study’s researchers, founded at Children’s Hospital Philadelphia, amassed data from more than 16,000 new Ohio drivers who completed the VDA tool and tracked their car accident rates over the next 3 years.
Most states do not have standardized requirements for pre-licensure road training. And while many states have express restrictions for newly licensed young drivers, such as driving only during the day and not carrying other young passengers, those regulations are not properly followed.
Most injuries that occur in the months after obtaining a license are similar to driver error and not threatening, reckless, or planned behavior. These errors are often similar to insufficient skills, such as poor scanning, resolution errors, and loss of control. and time spent behind the wheel lead to significant relief in those mistakes. This reduction in the frequency of injuries underscores the importance of minimizing the error rate in the first few months of the driver’s experience. While written and road tests are essential as a protective measure for obtaining the licence, the fact that such a high percentage of injuries occur in the first few months has led to the creation of an additional tool to assess the threat profiles of the new driving forces.
The VDA was created through CHOP researchers, in collaboration with Diagnostic Driving, Inc. , the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The virtual tool creates crash scenarios and a diversity of simulated driving skills. It was originally designed to assess the likelihood that a new driver will be able to pass the pre-licensing roadside check.
The virtual skills tool is a 15-minute self-directed online check that includes a driving direction that “common serious crash scenarios, such as rear-end collisions, intersections, curvy roads, merges, and danger zones. “These addresses also have various contexts (urban and suburban), physical characteristics of the road, and other potential hazards (e. g. , crosswalks, mergers, structural zones, vehicles, and pedestrians). It includes 69 variables that assess operational and tactical driving skills, adding “aberrant or harmful behaviors. “such as simulated collisions and minor traffic violations, as well as functionality in various known driving spaces. “
The VDA has expanded its use to help new drivers and families hone their driving skills before hitting the road. It is now possible to identify the most at-risk drivers in the first few months of their driver’s license, with the aim of minimizing the well-known spike. in injuries in the first few months of your driver’s license.
Driving Simulator
The October study looked at driving records between July 2017 and March 2020, and completed the study just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Among newly authorized drivers, 13% had one twist of fate and 1. 5% had two or more. Twist of fate. Ninety percent of the twist of fate occurred between 17 and six hundred days after obtaining a license. VDA ability scores were ranked from lowest threat (“No Driving Disorders”) to highest threat (“Major Disorders with Unsafe Behavior”). ) and correlated with the incidence of twists of fate. Not surprisingly, those who didn’t have “driving disorders” had a 10% lower threat of a twist of fate than average, and those who had “major disorders with unsafe behavior” had 11%. % increase compared to the average risk of a twist of fate. The age, gender, and sociodemographic characteristics of newly licensed drivers had no effect on crash risk.
Teen driver.
The authors of the study conclude that this virtual tool is a physically powerful measure to better assess new drivers at higher risk. Perhaps this can be used more broadly, and low-performing VDA scholars can be given more time to hone their skills. and wait to get a full license until the point of proficiency and protection is at the point “No Driving Problems”. This will likely lead to significant relief from road injuries nationwide.