Approximately 23 percent of all teens admitted to driving while under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or prescription drugs used illegally according to a new survey by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions.
The study was released this week as millions of teenagers are repairing for proms and graduations, two of the most dangerous times of year for teenage driving.
There are approximately 13 million driving-aged teenagers, 3 million of which have admitted to operating a motor vehicle under the influence of at least one substance. The biggest issue of all is 91 percent of those 3 million teens believe they aren't doing anything wrong.
"The end of the school year and the summer months are exciting times for teens, but they are also the most dangerous," said Dave Melton , a driving safety expert with Liberty Mutual Insurance and managing director of global safety. "A celebratory toast can quickly lead to serious consequences down the line. These new data illustrate that there is clearly a strong need to increase the level of education around safe driving. More importantly, it's a flag for parents to make sure they talk to their kids regularly about the importance of safe driving behavior."
A large majority of teens who have admitted to driving under the influence consider themselves to be "safe/cautions" drivers, and don't consider alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs to be a "distraction" or deterrent to their driving ability.
Of the teens who admitted to using alcohol while driving, 40 percent claim that alcohol has no impact or even improves their driving according to the study. Of the teens who were surveyed, 75 percent believed their driving was not impaired while under the influence of marijuana.
According to the survey, about 25 percent of teens who have driven under the influence of marijuana or prescription drugs, and about 14 percent of teens who report drinking and driving said that they are not distracted while being under the influence.
Approximately 3,000 teens die every year on the road, many of which die due to being under the influence of at least one substance.
"The fact that an overwhelming number of teens admit to extremely unsafe driving habits and completely dismiss any risk concern yet still consider themselves safe drivers means either teens have a different definition of 'safe' or we need to do a better job of educating kids about the dangers of this type of behavior," said Melton.
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