Teens and traffic safety

Hollywood has always portrayed teens and cars as a volatile mixture. Whether it was the game of chicken from Rebel without a Cause, the drag race in American Graffiti, or the misadventures with dad’s car in Risky Business and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a teen behind the wheel of a car has always moved the plot along to some calamitous event. Although movies are sometimes a poor barometer of what ails society, unfortunately in this case these depictions may not be too far from the truth. In 1997 alone, there were 10,208 motor-vehicle fatalities among young adults aged fifteen to twenty-four, accounting for roughly one-third of all deaths in this age group. Motor-vehicle fatalities are far and away the leading cause of death among young adults.