Teens and Automobile Accidents

Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland

Now that your teen has been in an accident, you may not know what to do. As he or she has grown, you have enjoyed watching him or her become such a wonderful young man or woman, but now all that is in jeopardy, or, worse, lost forever. And on top of the tragic accident, you may be facing medical bills and ongoing care expenses. You may also be forced to defend your teenager from accusations that he or she may have been to blame for the accident.

On the other hand, if you were injured or lost a loved one in an accident with a teen, that family's tragedy cannot be allowed to shield them from responsibility for what their teen has done.

If you were hurt or lost a loved one in a tragic accident in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, DC, the personal injury lawyers at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, & Siegel, P.C. can help you fight for your rights. Please call or email us today for more information.

Teens and Car Accidents

Statistics show that teens are involved in a higher proportion of automobile accidents than other drivers. Moreover, simply because a teen driver was involved in a serious automobile accident, it does not mean that the teen is the one actually responsible. One reason why teens are involved in so many automobile accidents is that they have less experience reacting to other drivers and thus may be less able to prevent accidents, rather than being more likely to cause them.

Reckless and Distracted Teens

Teenage drivers do cause many of the accidents in which they are involved. Proportionally, more teens are killed in single-vehicle crashes than any other age group, showing that a teen driver is more of an inherent risk to himself and others than drivers in other age groups. Teen drivers are dangerous because they:

Have less experience driving
Are more likely to drive recklessly
Are often less capable of managing distractions in the automobile
Are more likely to engage in distracting behaviors, including:
- Cell phone and other electronics use
- Engaging in roughhousing and rowdy play in the automobile
- Engaging in distracting conversation in the automobile

Recent research has shown that teenagers' brains are not fully developed, causing them to make more risky decisions than other drivers. In addition, teens are twice as likely to be in a crash whenever they ride with just one other teen in the car.

Teen Driving Restrictions

To attempt to reduce the number of teens killed and injured in crashes and protect those who share the roads with them, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC have all instituted restrictions on teen drivers. These restrictions vary slightly, but they all include:

Limits to passengers, especially underage passengers, that a teen driver may carry
Driving curfews
Prohibition against cell phone use

If a teen violated any of these restrictions at the time of the automobile accident, it may make the teen more responsible for the accident.

If you have been hurt or lost a loved one in an automobile accident, the personal injury lawyers at Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata, & Siegel, P.C. can help. Please call or email us today for a free initial consultation.

Print this page