Fatal crash involvement of unlicensed young drivers: County level differences according to material deprivation and urbanicity in the United States

Analyzing the continuum of fatal crashes: A generalized ordered approach

“…The important individual behavioral determinants of fatal crashes include excessive speed, violation of traffic rules and lack of seat belt use (Siskind et al, 2011;Valent et al, 2002;Sivak et al, 2010;Viano and Parenteau, 2010). Other driver attributes such as aggressive driving behavior, unlicensed driving and distraction during driving are identified to be the most significant contributors of fatal crashes for young drivers (Lambert-Bélanger et al, 2012;Hanna et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2000). Studies have also examined the effect of race/ethnicity in fatal crashes (Braver, 2003;Romano et al, 2006;Campos-Outcalt et al, 2003;Harper et al, 2000).…”

Dying to get out: young drivers, safety and social inequity

“…Lower socio-economic status (SES) is positively associated with collision risk and severity of injury 10 11. Chen et al 12 showed drivers from low SES areas were almost twice as likely (RR 1.8; 95% CI 1.1 to 3.2) to be involved in a collision as drivers from high SES areas.…”

“…In contrast, research in Northern Ireland found an inverse relationship between social deprivation and collision risk in rural areas, while urban rates showed no significant relationship with deprivation,14 but this finding could be due to the failure of deprivation measures to adequately describe deprivation in rural areas. The link between social deprivation and severity of injury may, in part, be related to the increased likelihood of young people from deprived areas driving older, possibly substandard, vehicles 11 15…”

Young unlicensed drivers and fatal road traffic crashes in the USA in the past decade. A neglected public health issue

“…Young unlicensed drivers for their part receive far less attention in spite of available data on their involvement in fatal RTCs and the circumstances surrounding those 3 – 6. In fact, estimates indicate that in the USA, about one in nine of all young drivers (<19 years) involved in fatal RTCs are unlicensed and these crashes could take annually the life of up to 600 victims.…”

“…The Southern states are over-represented 5. Young drivers, unlicensed despite their age eligibility, are commonly found in fatal RTC statistics: these drivers are predominantly men and tend to accumulate health and driving risk behaviours 3 – 5…”