Choice of teenagers' vehicles and views on vehicle safety: Survey of parents of novice teenage drivers

Abstract

Objective

To examine parental decisions about vehicles driven by teenagers and parental knowledge of vehicle safety.

Methods

About 300 parents were interviewed during spring 2006 in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Rhode Island while teenagers took their first on-road driving tests.

Results

Fewer than half of parents surveyed said teenagers would be the primary drivers of the chosen vehicles. Parents most often cited safety, existing family vehicle, and reliability when explaining the choices for their teenagers’ vehicles. About half of the vehicles intended for teenagers were small/mini/sports cars, pickups, or SUVs — vehicles considered less safe for teenagers than midsize/large cars or minivans. A large majority of vehicles were 2001 models or earlier. Vehicles purchased in anticipation of adding a new driver to the family were more likely to be the sizes/types considered less safe than vehicles already owned. Few parents insisted on side airbags or electronic stability control, despite strong evidence of their safety benefits. Even when asked to identify ideal vehicles for their teenagers to drive, about half of parents identified less safe vehicle sizes/types. Most parents knew that midsize/large vehicles are safer than small vehicles, and at least half of parents said SUVs and pickups are not safe for teenage drivers, citing instability.

Conclusions

The majority of parents understood some of the important criteria for choosing safe vehicles for their teenagers. However, parents actually selected many vehicles for teenagers that provide inferior crash protection.

Impact on industry

Vehicle safety varies substantially by vehicle size, type, and safety features. Many teenagers are driving inferior vehicles in terms of crashworthiness and crash avoidance.

Introduction

Teenage drivers have very high rates of both fatal and nonfatal crashes when compared with older drivers (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety [IIHS], 2007a). Crash risk is especially high during the initial months of licensure (Mayhew et al., 2003, McCartt et al., 2003). Since 1996 almost all states have implemented graduated licensing laws that phase in full driving privileges. Research has shown that crashes among 16 year-olds have been reduced by 10–30% in states that have adopted graduated licensing (Fohr et al., 2005, Foss et al., 2001, Governor's Highway Safety Office, 2001, Shope and Molnar, 2004, Ulmer et al., 2000, Zwicker et al., 2006).

Graduated licensing is intended to reduce teenage crashes by ensuring teenagers are more experienced and somewhat older, and therefore more mature, when they are licensed by limiting initial unsupervised driving in high-risk situations such as driving at night and traveling with teenage passengers (Williams, 2003). Parents are the primary enforcers of graduated licensing laws and are responsible for other important decisions related to their teenagers' safety. A critical parental responsibility is choosing the vehicles their teenagers will drive. Vehicle choice is important for drivers of all ages but especially for teenagers given their elevated crash risk.

There are numerous aspects to vehicle safety. Small, light vehicles generally offer less protection than larger, heavier ones. The risk of death generally is higher in smaller/lighter vehicles, such that the smallest vehicles in any vehicle type/body style group generally have the highest death rates (IIHS, 2007b). Even among vehicles of comparable size and weight, some models have better structural designs and restraint systems that are reflected in better crash test ratings (IIHS, 2007c). Good restraint systems include not only lap/shoulder seat belts and front airbags but also seat/head restraints designed to reduce occupant neck injuries. Side airbags that provide head protection reduce driver death risk in driver-side crashes by 37% in cars and 52% in SUVs (McCartt & Kyrychenko, 2007). An important crash avoidance technology is electronic stability control (ESC), which reduces the risk of fatal single–vehicle crashes by about half (Farmer, 2006). Newer model vehicles generally are safer than older models because vehicle crashworthiness has improved over time and newer models are more likely to be equipped with safety technologies such as side airbags and ESC.

When selecting vehicles for teenagers to drive, parents must balance safety against practical concerns such as cost and reliability. A four-state survey of parents and teenagers in 1999 found that safety rarely was mentioned as a reason for selecting vehicles, and teenagers often drove small, older vehicles (Cammisa, Williams, & Leaf, 1999). A more recent survey of parents and teenagers in Connecticut found that the majority of teenagers were driving small cars, SUVs, pickups, or sports cars during the first year of licensure; one-third of teenagers were driving vehicles 10 years old or older (Williams, Leaf, Simons-Morton, & Hartos, 2006). Observations of student parking lots at high schools in three states found that more than half of students' vehicles were sizes/types not recommended for beginning drivers (IIHS, 2004).

There is limited research on parental decisions about choosing vehicles for teenagers to drive. Two-thirds of parents interviewed in Seattle (Rivara, Rivara, & Bartol 1998) and more than half of parents interviewed in North Carolina and Tennessee (Williams et al., 2006) reported their teenagers would be driving existing family vehicles. Cammisa et al. (1999) and Rivara et al. (1998) found that a large vehicle was not as important to parents as factors such as gas mileage or maneuverability.

The present study sought to add to prior research on vehicles driven by teenagers by examining how parents choose these vehicles and their views on various vehicle safety topics.