Motor Vehicle Deaths
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Headline

Motor vehicle death rates rise rapidly during the teen years and remain very high into early adulthood. (See Figure 3) Rates in 2004 increased from 22 deaths per 100,000 16-year-olds to 34 deaths per 100,000 18-year-olds, and then returned to 22 deaths per 100,000 for 24- and 25-year-olds.

Importance

Thirty-six percent of all teen deaths in the U.S. are the result of motor vehicle crashes.¹ In 2005, more than 3,400 youth ages 15 to 20 were killed and approximately 281,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes.²

Teenage drivers have much higher crash rates per mile driven than drivers older than 25, with the highest rates for drivers age 16.³ A number of factors related to lack of driving experience and maturity contribute to younger drivers having higher crash rates, including following too closely, driving too fast, and violating traffic signs and signals.⁴ Other risk factors include the presence of other teenage passengers and use of alcohol.⁵

The same factors that contribute to younger drivers being involved in more motor vehicle crashes contribute to their higher death rates.⁶ The use of alcohol by young drivers is especially dangerous. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of young drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking.⁷ Teenagers are also less likely to wear seat belts than any other age group.⁸ The time of day is also strongly associated with motor vehicle deaths among young drivers. In 2004, more than 50 percent of motor vehicle deaths among young drivers occurred on the weekends, and 40 percent occurred between 9 pm and 6 am.⁹

Many states have adopted graduated licensing programs to help address these problems. These programs place a variety of restrictions on young drivers that are removed as they gain experience. The stages involved in most of these programs include: a learner's period of supervised driving; a license limiting unsupervised nighttime driving and having other teens in the car; and, finally, a license with full privileges.¹⁰

Trends

Since 1980, the motor vehicle death rate for teens ages 15 to 19 has declined dramatically from 42 deaths per 100,000 in 1980 to 25 deaths per 100,000 in 1999, with the greatest reductions taking place during the early 1980s. (See Figure 1) ) Rates ranged between 25 to 28 per 100,000 from 1999 to 2003, then decreased to 25 per 100,000 in 2004.

Black teens have not followed a consistent trend in motor vehicle death rates. Motor vehicle death rates increased for male black youth in the early 1990s, peaking at 29 deaths per 100,000 teens in 1995. Since 1995, the rate has fluctuated, but overall it has declined from 29 deaths per 100,000 teens in 1995 to 22 deaths per 100,000 in 2004. For female black teens, rates also increased in the mid-1980s to early 1990s, peaking at 12 deaths per 100,000 teens in 1996. Since then, the death rate has ranged from 8 to 11 deaths per 100,000 teens; in 2004, approximately 10 black females aged 15 to 19 died per 100,000 teens. (See Table 1)

Differences by Gender

Males are nearly twice as likely as females to die in motor vehicle traffic accidents. In 2004, the motor vehicle death rate was 33 per 100,000 for males ages 15 to 19, compared to 18 per 100,000 for females. (See Table 1) Similar gender differences exist across all racial and ethnic groups.

Differences by Race and Ethnicity

American Indian/Alaskan Native youth have the highest motor vehicle death rates of any racial or ethnic group: 38 per 100,000 for males and 25 per 100,000 for females in 2004. Non-Hispanic white youth have the next highest death rates, at 36 and 21 per 100,000 for males and females, respectively. Asian/Pacific Islander youth ages 15 to 19 have the lowest motor vehicle death rates at 14 deaths per 100,000 among males and 8 per 100,000 among females in 2004. (See Figure 2)

Differences by Age

Motor vehicle death rates rise dramatically during the teen years, and rates stay high into early adulthood. (See Table 2) Rates in 2004 were 8 per 100,000 at age 14 and 22 per 100,000 at age 16, peaking at age 18 with 34 per 100,000. These age-specific rates stay very high throughout the early 20s and do not fall below the rate for 16-year-olds until age 24. (See Figure 3)

Related Indicators

Seat Belt Use, Infant, Child, and Teen Death Rates

State and Local Estimates

State motor vehicle traffic death rates for the population (though not for teens specifically) are available at: http://www.statehealthfacts.kff.org/cgi-bin/healthfacts.cgi?action=compare&category=Health+Status&subcategory=Motor+Vehicle+Deaths&topic=Motor+Vehicle+Death+Rate

International Estimates

Road traffic injury death rates and absolute numbers are available by region for children ages four and under, ages five to 14, and ages 15 to 29 at: http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2004/infomaterials/world_report/en/statistical_annex.pdf (See Tables A2 and A3)

Motor vehicle traffic death rates for youth ages 15 to 24 are available for selected countries at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus96_97pg32.pdf

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National Goals

Through its Healthy People 2010 initiative, the federal government has set a number of national goals that relate to reducing the number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities. While none of the goals focuses specifically on the teenage population, more general goals for the entire population include: reducing the number of deaths due to motor vehicle crashes, reducing the number of motor vehicle deaths and injuries caused by alcohol and drug related motor vehicle crashes, increasing the number of states with graduated licensing, and increasing seat belt use.

Additionally, there is a goal to reduce the number of high school students who report riding with a driver who has been drinking.
More information is available at:
http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/html/objectives/15-15.htm (Goal on reducing the number of motor vehicle crash deaths) http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/html/objectives/26-01.htm (Goal on reducing deaths due to drug and alcohol related motor vehicle crashes) http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/html/objectives/15-22.htm (Goal on increasing the number of states with graduated licensing) http://www.healthypeople.gov/document/html/objectives/15-19.htm (Goal on increasing seat belt use) http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/document/html/objectives/26-06.htm (Goal on reducing the number of high school students who report riding with a driver who had been drinking)

What Works: Programs and Interventions that May Influence this Indicator

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Research References

¹Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2007). "Teen Drivers: Fact Sheet." Retrieved October 23, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/teenmvh.htm

²Traffic Safety Facts 2005: Young Drivers (2003). U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Retrieved April 6, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2003/809774.pdf.

³IIHS (2004). Fast Facts: Teenagers 2002. Arlington, VA. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. http://www.iihs.org/research/fatality_facts/teenagers.html

⁴Williams, A. F., & Ferguson, S. A. (2002). Rationale for graduated licensing and the risks it should address. Injury Prevention (8), ii9-ii16. http://ip.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/8/suppl_2/ii9

⁵McCartt, A. T., Shabanova, V. I., & Leaf, W. A. (2001). Driving Experience, Crashes, and Traffic Citations of Teenage Beginning Drivers. Arlington, VA: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

⁶Teen Drivers (2003, 2/28/03). http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/teenmvh.htm

⁷Traffic Safety Facts: Graduated Licensing System (February, 2007). U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. DOT HS 810 727W. http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/TSFLaws/PDFs/810727W.pdf

⁸Teen Drivers (2003, 2/28/03). http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/teenmvh.htm

⁹IIHS. (2004). Fatality Facts: Teenagers. Arlington, VA: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Accessed April 6, 2006 at: http://www.iihs.org/research/fatality_facts/teenagers.html

¹⁰Graduated Driver Licensing. Arlington, VA: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/gdl.html

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Definition

These data include all motor vehicle traffic deaths as determined by physicians, medical examiners, and coroners reports on death certificates. Deaths are classified using ICD 10 codes. For more information on ICD 10 classification please see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/icd10fct.pdf

Data Source

Data for 2004: National Center for Heath Statistics. (2006). "Health, United States, 2006 Chartbook on Trends in the Heath of Americans." Table 44. Hyattsville, Maryland. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus06.pdf Data for race for 2004 is from derived by Child Trends from WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System). Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/

Data for total and gender for ages 15-19, 2000-2002: National Center for Health Statistics. Health United States 2004 with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Hyattsville, Maryland: 2004. Table 44.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm

Race data for ages 15-19, 2000-2004: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2003). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer). Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/. [Cited December 10 2004].

All other data for ages 15-19: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2003. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Table 8.
http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/

Data for 2000 by individual year of age: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2003). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer). Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/. [Cited May 15 2003].

Raw Data Source

Mortality Data, National Vital Statistics System
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/dvs/mortdata.htm

Approximate Date of Next Update

Winter 2009

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