1. Using Naturalistic Driving Data to Assess the Prevalence of Environmental Factors and Driver Behaviors in Teen Driver Crashes
March 2015

2. The Situation 963,000 drivers aged 16-19 involved in crashes in 2013
Resulted in 383,000 injuries and 2,865 deaths
Driver behavior and actions immediately prior to the crash are difficult to ascertain after the fact
Some key factors may be systematically under-reported in the national statistics
Previous naturalistic studies have observed only a small number of moderate-to-severe crashes
Very few teens
*Due to the nature of police reported data

3. Dr. Dan McGehee University of Iowa AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
Largest naturalistic study of teen crashes in history
Released in March 2015

4. Overview
Researchers from the University of Iowa examined data from teen driver crashes captured on the Lytx Drive Cam in-vehicle video camera system
Drivers who were participating in a program using a DriveCam
Mostly from the Midwest
Crashes occurred between August 2007 and July 2013
Results are based on examination of 1,691 eligible crashes
Video was examined for 6 seconds preceding the crash
Major crash types examined:
Single vehicle loss of control (LOC)
Single vehicle road departure
Rear-end
Angle (front-to-side)

5. Major Factor: Inattention/Distraction
Driver distracted in 58% of crashes
NHTSA data: 14%
Major distractions
Passengers
Cell Phone
Unknown person/object outside of vehicle

6. #1 Distraction: Passengers
Passengers in vehicle in ~40% of crashes overall
85% teens, some younger, very few adults (<5%)
Driver conversing/interacting/attending to passengers in 15% of crashes

7. #2 Distraction: Cell Phones
Present in 12% of crashes overall
NHTSA data: 1.1%
Varied by crash type
34% of run-off-road crashes involved phone
18% of rear-end crashes involved phone
- Drivers using phone had eyes off the road for 4.1 seconds

8. Cell Phone & Reaction Time
(Rear-end crashes only)
Drivers using phone took more than full second longer to react than drivers not using phone (3.4 sec vs. 2.3 sec)
> 50% of drivers using phone showed no reaction whatsoever (no brakes, no steering) before crashing into vehicle in front of them!

9. Other Key Findings
Decision errors (failing to yield right of way, running stop signs, and driving too fast) were involved in 66% of crashes
Driver was driving too fast for conditions in 79% of single-vehicle crashes
Following too closely in 36% of rear-end crashes
Failed to yield to another vehicle in 43% of angle crashes

10. Implications
Distraction due to cell phone use appears to be much more prevalent than is reflected in official government statistics derived from police reports
NHTSA statistics indicate that 14% of all crashes involve driver distraction, with 7% of those (1% of all crashes) involving distraction related to cell phone use
Driver education and training should teach young drivers to avoid taking excessively long glances away from the forward roadway