With school out for the summer, teenagers will now be spending more time out on the road than inside the classroom.
Monday marks the start of the '100 Deadliest Days' between Memorial Day and Labor Day. AAA reports seven people are killed every day on average across the country in teen driver-related crashes.
This is a time when more than 30% of deaths nationwide involve teen drivers. AAA reports 16- and 17-year-olds are three times more likely to be involved in a deadly crash compared to adults. Crashes like this are preventable and experts believe parents should make sure to set behavior expectations behind the wheel.
They suggest requiring teens to wear seat belts, limiting their driving at night, and avoiding having them drive with other teen passengers.
"Other teenagers in a novice drivers' car is pretty significant," said Maria Wojtczak with DrivingMBA in Scottsdale.
ABC15 had just recently spoken with her about this exact topic.
"Backseat passengers are even more distracting," Wojtczak explained. "They'll tend not to wear their belts because they kind of want to be up... engaged with their friends in the front seat."
AAA offers advice to parents on how to try and keep their child from becoming a statistic this summer, including teaching by example. When a parent is in the driver's seat, do not use your phone, drive the posted speed limit, and maintain your distance from other cars. They also say that parents should create rules before a teen can take the car keys, like enforcing a curfew and having a drive-monitoring app on their teen's phone.
Driver's education is not required in Arizona, but parents can take action and enroll them in courses this summer.
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