The effect of passenger age and gender on young driver fatal crash risk was studied with police-reported crash data in Louisiana from 1999 to 2004. Young drivers were divided into three age groups—16, 17, and 18 to 20 years of age—by gender. Passengers were grouped into 15 to 17 and 18 to 20 years of age by gender. A series of analyses of young drivers and young passengers was conducted to study their risks of being involved in fatal crashes. Relative risks and crash rates were used to measure crash risk. The analyses followed step-by-step disaggregation of driver and passenger characteristics, including the number of passengers, passenger age, and passenger age and gender for each driver age and gender group. It was found that young drivers are negatively affected by young passengers, especially from their own peer age groups. However, the presence of adult passengers reduces their fatal crash risks. Sixteen-and 17-year-old drivers have similar fatal risk patterns that are much higher than and different from those of 18- to 20-year-old drivers; 16- and 17-year-old drivers are associated with the highest fatal crash risks when driving with their same gender and age group passengers, with male-to-male driver–passenger combination having higher fatal crash risk than female-to-female driver–passenger combination. As age progresses, fatal crash risk differences between male and female young drivers also increase.


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    Title :

    Effect of Passenger Age and Gender on Fatal Crash Risks of Young Drivers


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2008-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English