The number of teen drivers who have died in traffic accidents has been dropping in Maryland and Virginia as lawmakers tighten restrictions on the region’s youngest drivers. Traffic fatalities among Virginia’s teen drivers fell by nearly 50 percent in 2009 and dropped again by 43 percent in 2010, the same year that Maryland witnessed a 25 percent decline in teen driver deaths.
Virginia lost 35 teen drivers to traffic accidents in 2010, compared with 110 teen deaths in 2008, according to information obtained by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Traffic deaths overall fell by less than 10 percent statewide during the same period.
| Teen driver deaths | ||||||||
| State | 2009 | 2010 | Change | |||||
| Maryland | 48 | 36 | -25% | |||||
| Virginia | 61 | 35 | -43% | |||||
| Teen driver injuries | ||||||||
| State | 2009 | 2010 | Change | |||||
| Maryland | 5,479 | 4,543 | -17% | |||||
| Virginia | 7,418 | 4,118 | -44.5% | |||||
| Teen driving laws | ||||||||
| State | Age for a learner’s permit | Age for a provisional license | Age for a full license | |||||
| Virginia | 15 years, 6 months | 16 years, 3 months | 18 years | |||||
| Maryland | 15 years, 9 months | 16 years, 6 months | 18 years | |||||
Virginia officials attribute the decline to changes in state laws, including a July 2007 ban on cell phone use while driving for motorists under the age of 18. Virginia has since banned text messaging for all drivers.
The Old Dominion also has begun requiring parents of young drivers to attend informational meetings.
“Parents have to attend these mandatory meetings in order to become better role models for our teens on the road,” said Anita Biroonak, a spokeswoman for Partners for Safe Teen Driving, the agency that organizes the adult classes. Parents must attend the meetings or their teens won’t qualify for a learner’s permit, Biroonak said.
Residents across the Potomac began seeing major declines in teen traffic fatalities in 2010, one year after the Maryland General Assembly passed a series of laws that extended the time it takes for young drivers to obtain a full license.
A total of 36 teen drivers died on the road in Maryland in 2010, compared with 48 in 2009, according to statistics from the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles.
The 2009 General Assembly’s legislative changes include a three-month extension — from six months to nine months — on the time that a driver must hold a learner’s permit and another three-month extension on the time it takes to qualify for a full license. Teens under the age of 18 were also banned from driving around their friends or anyone under the age of 18 who is not an immediate family member for the first five months after receiving a provisional license. Like Virginia, Maryland implemented a ban on text messaging while driving, which has expanded to include all hand-held cell phone use behind the wheel.
Driver deaths in D.C. also have been declining, but available data contains little information regarding the ages of the deceased.
A total of 33 D.C. drivers died in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available, compared with 39 deaths in 2008 and 54 deaths the previous year. Three of the drivers who died in 2009 were between the ages of 16 and 20.
