HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) – Teenagers have a lot to look forward to at the end of the school year: prom, graduation and summer break. However, as teens are wrapping up their academics, highway safety officials are preparing for a grimmer part of the year, the “100 deadliest days” for traffic accidents.
According to an analysis by bumper.com, the Tri-State area is no exception to teen driver deaths. Kentucky was ranked second worst; Indiana was ranked 18th. Illinois was ranked 39th.
The analysis revealed for every 10,000 licensed teen drivers, 9.41 teens were involved in driving fatalities in Kentucky, 4.87 in Indiana and 3.26 in Illinois.
The same analysis revealed Illinois had 41.1% (18 out of 50) of their teen driving deaths occur between the months of June and September. Kentucky had 33.7% (46 out of 50) of their teen deaths in the same period and Indiana had a percentage of 35.4% (41 out of 50).
Young drivers are statistically more likely than other age groups to be involved in fatal accidents, and from 2019 through 2021, 55.6% of victims were 20 years of age or younger.
Speeding is the top cause of young driver deaths with 39.3% of fatal teen driving accidents reported, compared to 28.7% of all other age groups. Alcohol was reported as the second leading cause with 31.8%, compared to 36.5% of all other age groups. Distracted driving had a factor of 9.2%, slightly higher than 8.2% of other age groups.
To conduct this study, Bumper examined 2019-21 accident data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and 2022 fatality estimates from the National Safety Council. The number of licensed drivers came from 2021 Federal Highway Administration data. NHTSA defines young drivers between the ages of 15 and 20.
