from journal Pediatrics
Most parents have reservations about turning over the keys to a newly licensed teenager. A new study, in the journal Pediatrics, may help. The title of the article—Driving Skills at Licensure and Time to First Crash—describes the study of more than seventeen thousand drivers under twenty-five. Researchers determined that first-year drivers who showed dangerous behavior on the virtual driving tests had an eleven percent higher risk of real-life crashes. By contrast, those with no dangerous testing behavior had ten percent lower risk of real-life crashes than average for the age group. Authors say the information may help develop interventions for teens with poor driving skills—and, in the process, give parents a little more confidence about turning over the keys.