Teenagers have been hitting the road with more caution these days. Based on the 2011 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, young folks are driving more safely compared to a decade back. Some cool stats popped up like how seat belt use shot up from 74 percent to 92 percent for both driver and rider teens. Imagine what this could mean for road safety now! It’s like they traded their reckless ways for a safer ride, making roads a tad less scary. Why wouldn’t you want to know more about these shifting trends that could change everything about youth driving safety?

Also surprising, those who admitted they had been riding with a driver who had been drinking alcohol is down to 24 percent from 40 percent and drunk driving reports decreased to 8 percent from 17 percent.

Those are huge declines in three major areas considered by public safety experts to be prime cause of teen driving deaths. Fatal traffic collisions are still most common among teen drivers and vehicle crashes remain the number killer of teenagers.

Anything which can be done to reduce the number of teen deaths should be attempted, but so far, no tried and true method for decreasing teen driving deaths has been found. Our Online Traffic School is used by many parents and teen drivers themselves to help prepare inexperienced drivers for the rigors of being a defensive driver. In some states drivers can actually get a discount on their driving insurance for completing our online course. This is a further incentive for teen drivers to get certified online.

While traffic collisions remain a number one killer of teenagers, insurance companies, public safety advocates and parents continue to struggle with the best possible methods for helping create a safer environment for them and the people who ride with them and share the roads with them.