SHIFTING INTO ACTION: YOUTH AND HIGHWAY SAFETY

The leading cause of death among youth aged 16 to 24 is alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents. The Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service has indicated that while life expectancy has increased for members of other age groups, it has decreased for youth--mainly because of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities. Inexperience behind the wheel, risk-taking-behavior, and frequent night driving combine with alcohol and/or other drugs to kill 11 young people each day. Another 360 are seriously injured or crippled each day because driving skills and judgment are impaired by alcohol or other drugs. These figures may be significantly reduced if teenagers use safety belts and refrain from using alcohol or other drugs while driving. Although young people make up only 10 percent of the driver population and account for only 6 percent of the vehicle miles traveled in this country, they represent 17 percent of all drivers involved in accidents and 16 percent of all alcohol-impaired drivers in accidents. "Shifting Into Action" provides a systematic framework to help community leaders plan a comprehensive youth program--one that can reduce alcohol-related injuries and fatalities by involving all segments of the community.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

  5635 Fishers Lane
  Bethesda, MD  United States  20892-9304
• Publication Date: 1985-7

Media Info

• Pagination: 29 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Alcohol use; Communities; Drivers; Drugs; Drunk drivers; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Highway safety; Injuries; Safety programs; Teenage drivers; Traffic safety education
• Old TRIS Terms: Alcohol education programs
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00452185
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-806 798
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 31 1986 12:00AM