Jacksonville Second in Fatal Teen Crashes
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With the holiday season just around the corner and more teen drivers out of school and on the road – Allstate Insurance has a word of caution.
The roads in three metro areas in Florida are the tops nationwide for fatal auto crashes involving teens. The Tampa Bay area, Jacksonville, and Orlando ranks first, second and third in the study by Allstate that analyzed crash statistics and claims around the country over the past eight holiday seasons.
According to the state Department of Transportation, there were 983 traffic fatalities involving teens in 2006, and 1,000 in 2007.
Why do three Florida metro areas top the list? No one can say for sure except these cities are particularly spread out and teens have to drive greater distances to get anywhere. There may also be more instances of holiday parties and drunk driving.
Anyone on the road around here knows there is a great deal of aggressive driving or road rage for some reason in the Sunshine State.
People commenting to a story in the Florida Times Union also suggest that driver training in high school leaves something to be desired.
With about 6,000 young people dying in crashes annually and another 300,000 teens injured, in Florida there were 29 fatal traffic crashes in Jacksonville alone during the past holiday season.
These numbers are unacceptable. Please don’t let your child become a statistic.
Talk to your kids this holiday season. Believe it or not, parents have the strongest influence over their child’s driving behavior. Stress that driving is a privilege not a right.
Don’t assume that drivers education courses have done the complete job of training your child to drive. Make sure you don’t have a holiday to remember- forever.