The Adolescent Brain and its Effect on Driving Habits
Some months ago, I wrote a blog post commenting on an Allstate auto insurance company newspaper ad reporting that “nearly 5,000 teens died in car crashes” in 2008. Recently, a similar Allstate advertisement caught my eye.
The headline asked a provocative question and gave a startling answer: “Why do most 16-year-olds drive like they’re missing a part of their brain? Because they are.” As a personal injury lawyer in Southside Virginia, I have represented many people injured in auto and truck accidents caused by young drivers, so this surprising statement encouraged me to do a little research.
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study supports Allstate’s assertion. Researchers using magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) technology to map the human brain from childhood into adulthood have found the brain continues to mature well into a person’s twenties, and it is the frontal lobes, which are responsible for many of the brain’s executive functions, that develop last.
This area of the brain, called the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, plays a critical role in a person’s ability to exercise good judgment and to make appropriate decisions. It also enables a person to better understand the future consequences of his or her actions, and it helps inhibit risky behavior.
It’s easy to understand how a delay in development of the teenage and young adult brain might play a role in immature driving behavior among this segment of the population.
A look at crash statistics demonstrates this fact. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has reported that teenage drivers are four times more likely to be involved in a vehicle crash than older drivers, and they are three times more likely to die in one.
Of course, brain immaturity is not the only reason young adults are killed in motor vehicle accidents. However, the recent research on brain development has encouraged states to enact teen driving laws that include gradual licensing provisions and bans on cell phone use in vehicles operated by drivers under age 18.
The NIH research also serves as a reminder to parents to exert strict and active control over their teenage drivers. Ensure that your teen gets adequate driving instruction, monitor his driving behavior and skills, instruct him to comply with your state’s driving laws, and take away driving privileges if and when it becomes obvious he is not driving responsibly.
Labels: Motor Vehicle Accidents