Whyat America Needs to Do to Rein in Teen Speeding-including providing teens more, better transportation options – Streetsblog USA

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

The per-mile crash rate for teenage drivers is a whopping four times higher than drivers over 20, according to a new study that mostly blames teen speeding. But some advocates think addressing the problem will take far more than the enforcement and education-based solutions outlined in the report — and must include giving young people mobility options besides climbing behind the wheel. . . .

Teens were also found to be the demographic group that was most likely to kill a pedestrian or cyclist. . . .

Those trends have lead some advocates to wonder what would happen if the U.S. stopped focusing so much on getting teen drivers to slow down, and started investing in the safety and mobility of young people beyond the family car — an approach which would save even more lives.

Link: 

Whyat America Needs to Do to Rein in Teen Speeding-including providing teens more, better transportation options – Streetsblog USA

MoBikeFed comment: Missouri has implemented a graduated driver's license program, which is one of the suggested ways to improve the safety of young drivers.

However, at the same time the state has removed the requirement for driver's ed. Though driver's ed still exists in some school districts, the number of students who participate is a small fraction of the prior numbers. Research now shows the best approach is to combine both effective driver's ed and a graduated driver's license approach.

And across Missouri, teenagers (and all citizens) too often have no other alternative than to drive. Most neighborhoods still lack safe places to walk and bicycle, and public transportation rarely functions well enough to provide a realistic option to driving.

https://mobikefed.org/2013/02/health-department-almost-half-missourians-...

https://mobikefed.org/2016/07/lack-safe-places-walk-and-bicycle-dramatic...