Chattanooga Teen Driver Accident Risks

Multiple forms of distractions are one of the most prominent Chattanooga teen driver accident risks on the road. Other people in the car, a lot of conversation, or things going on inside the car, like choosing music, texting, putting on makeup, eating and drinking, may distract the driver from the road. These are all exaggerated risks when it comes to young drivers.

An experienced teen driver accident attorney has seen that minors tend to be more susceptible to distractions than more experienced drivers. They may be involved in more rear-end collisions, running red lights, and single cars running off the road. Cars come around curves too fast and leave the road, so if a passenger in that car gets hurt, the passenger can have a claim against the driver, even though it is a one-car collision.

Are Minors More Susceptible to Accident Involvement?

Teens are more likely to be involved in accidents than other drivers in Chattanooga for a couple of reasons. They are less-skilled drivers, so they make more mistakes. They do not see the risks that are coming or anticipate the dangers that a more experienced driver will anticipate and avoid.

Chattanooga teen driver accident risks include individuals who are more likely to get out of their lane. They are more likely to not leave themselves enough space to stop. They are more likely to be driving too fast for the conditions. They are more likely to go around a curve too fast and make similar types of mistakes.

Another reason that teens are more likely to be involved in collisions is because their judgment is not as advanced and they take higher risks. Oftentimes, those risks come in the forms of distractions. They will not care about dangerous distractions that are occurring inside the car, whether it is from other people, the radio, food, or phones. These risks may not appear nearly as great as they really are, so they under-evaluate the risks and then a collision occurs.

Role of a Parent or Guardian

Parents should try to underscore the catastrophic consequences of inattentive driving or violating traffic safety laws. Teens need to be impressed by the horrific things that happen to people in car collisions. Teens need to be trained carefully and led in developing good driving habits. They need to be led in avoiding distractions in the car. They need to be led in paying attention to what is going on around the vehicle all the time. They need to be trained to refuse to allow things inside the car to take their attention away from things outside the car.

Parents need to make sure that their children habitually follow traffic safety laws and safe driving behavior to avoid Chattanooga teen driver accident risks. If they have a teenager who has not developed safe driving habits, they should restrict the amount of driving that teenager is allowed to do, ride with that teenager frequently, and require than teenager to develop safe habits. As long as the teenager does not follow safe habits, parents should severely limit the amount of time they drive.

Chattanooga’s Teen Driving Laws

Teen drivers are held to the same standard when it comes to having to pay for damages in an accident that adult drivers are. The age of the driver is not an excuse for the teen driver accident risks they pose. It does not decrease the standard that is expected of the person driving. The person has to pay just like an older, more experienced driver would have to pay. It does not affect the insurance claim. It may affect the insurance rates. Teen drivers are much more expensive to insure. When a person adds a teen driver to an insurance policy, the insurance rates are much more likely to go up drastically, because they are held to the same standard as adults.

Is the Age of the Driver an Important Factor in a Collision Case?

Cases where a driver is under 18 often involve the parents of the driver. If a person is an adult, the person does not look for somebody else who is at fault for the behavior of that person, unless it is an employment situation. When a parent entrusts a car to a young person who does not have the driving skills that they ought to, lets that teenager drive the car while on businesses, lets them drive with a lot of teenagers in the car, or lets them drive in violation of the law, the parents can be held liable as well. That frequently adds another layer to the cases.

Seeking Help from an Attorney

Parents should look for a lawyer who seeks to understand exactly what is happening with their child, understands the child’s injuries, and wants to make sure that the child gets everything that they are going to need long-term. Injuries to a young person and to a growing body can affect the way the body continues to grow and mature. It has the potential to limit a teenager’s future.