SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND EDUCATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS KILLED IN INDIANA AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS

FROM THE LITERATURE IT IS APPARENT THAT THE PRIME CONTRIBUTOR TO AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS IS THE HUMAN FACTOR. FURTHERMORE, TEENAGERS AND ADULTS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIES HAVE ONE-THIRD OF ALL ACCIDENTS BUT CONSTITUTE ONLY 21% OF ALL DRIVERS. THIS LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT FATALITIES IN THIS AGE GROUP DETERMINED WITH SOME ACCURACY THAT THOSE KILLED ARE LOWER IN EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC LEVELS THAN THEIR COHORTS. ALSO, THEY MAY HAVE DISTINCT PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES. DRIVER EDUCATION IS OF NO PREDICTIVE IMPORTANCE AND, IN FACT, MAY BE SOMEWHAT OF A FACTOR IN INCREASING THE DEATH RATE, SINCE THESE DRIVERS LEARNED TO DRIVE AT A YOUNGER AGE. FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE SOCIAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND EDUCATIONAL VARIABLES WERE TESTED, AND 95 SHOWED DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FATALITY GROUP AND THE NORMS. OF PERHAPS GREATER IMPORTANCE IS THE DATA COLLECTED, FROM WHICH A FAR BETTER STUDY OF THIS TYPE COULD AND SHOULD BE DONE. /HSL/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rept No JHRP-26
• Corporate Authors:

  Purdue University/Indiana Department of Transportation JHRP

  Purdue University, School of Civil Engineering
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907-1284
• Authors:
  • Asher, W
  • DODSON, B
• Publication Date: 1970

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 22 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Driver training; Drivers; Economic factors; Fatalities; Human characteristics; Psychological aspects; Social factors; Teenage drivers
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver characteristics
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223894
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Literature
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 17 1973 12:00AM