The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source:
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:39 PM
Report: Teen Drivers May Do Better Behind Wheel Than Older Drivers
The study, done by the University of California at Los Angeles, discovered that many teen drivers performed better than older drivers even when driving on some of California's worst roads.
Researchers followed 100 drivers, 50 male and 50 female, who were getting ready for their motor vehicle license test. The results showed that younger male drivers had a higher skill rating than men in their 20s who were also preparing for the test.
Young women tended to report feeling "less confident" driving, but they were discovered to be equal to their male counterparts in skill level.
However, despite these findings, CBS reported that teenagers, who pay the most for car insurance of any other age group, aren't about to start paying less. According to the study, teenagers aged 16 to 20 still have more fatal, injury and property-damage accidents than any other age group. Still, this isn't necessarily an indicator of technical driving ability, according to the study.
"Based on the results of the current study, we hypothesize that the relatively high accident rate of younger drivers (especially male drivers) is most likely due to inattention to safety considerations rather than lack of technical driving ability," the researchers wrote.
The results also showed that teens who played sports turned out to be the best drivers and those who spent much of their free time in front of a computer screen playing games were no better than average.
"If you want your teen to be a better driver, advise him or her to get involved in sports," said Nancy Wayne, UCLA vice chancellor for research and a physiologist, who co-authored the study with instructor Gregory Miller of the Westwood Driving School."If your teen claims that video gaming is going to help them be a better driver, don't believe it."
Teens engaged in sports were quicker to hit the brakes when an accident was about to occur, reported the researchers. Almost any type of sports activity improved peripheral vision which is a significant factor in seeing what's happening on the road.