When the summer months come back around, fatal accidents go up. There are many different reasons for this. In some cases, people are more likely to travel or go on road trips, and an increase in miles driven can also lead to an increase in accidents. In other cases, it is the long daylight hours that mean people spend more time outside or on the road, leading to more crashes.
But one thing to consider is the role of teen drivers. The spike in fatal accidents caused by teens is so dramatic that researchers referred to the summer months as the “100 deadliest days” of the year. Why is it that teenagers cause more accidents in the summer than they do the rest of the year?
An increase in free time
The reason is that they have more free time and they aren’t in school. Remember that teenagers are always going to pose a major accident risk. Their fatality rates are always disproportionate to the size of their age group, and they are always some of the most dangerous drivers on the road.
However, that risk declines when teens are in school, either attending high school or college, because going to class just keeps them off of the road. In the summer, the risk level goes back up because they have less structured time and so they drive more often – especially if they have plans to travel with friends or enjoy those longer daylight hours, as noted above.
If you have been injured in an accident caused by a driver, or if you’ve lost a loved one, you need to know how to seek compensation.
