BOSTON — A new study is showing that being older does not make you wiser - at least when it comes to teen drivers.
"Older teens are still inexperienced drivers even if they feel otherwise as they only have one to two years of real-world practice under their belts," said Mike Sample, MS, CSP, lead driving safety expert & technical consultant at Liberty Mutual.
A study by Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students Against Destructive Decisions found that older teen drivers have more crash and near misses than new drivers, 57 percent of high school seniors compared to 34 percent of sophomores.
The study says the seniors are overconfident in their driving abilities and therefore make riskier decisions. Seventy-one percent of seniors said they are likely to use their phone behind the wheel, compared to 55 percent of sophomores. Of the high school seniors surveyed, three-quarters said they were confident in their driving skills.
"This age group is more likely to test the boundaries as consequences for bad driving behaviors decrease and their freedoms and responsibilities at home increase, making them feel more like adults," said Dr. Gene Beresin, senior advisor on adolescent psychiatry with SADD and Executive Director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital.
For new drivers, ages 15 and 16, nearly 70 percent said they would have their driving privileges taken away if they got into a crash compared to 55 percent of 18 and 19-year-olds.
As for dangerous behaviors besides using phones, the study found all are more likely to occur as a teenager ages.
The study says parents are key when it comes to influencing good behavior behind the wheel for teenagers.
The study surveyed 2,800 teens from high schools across the country between April and May of this year.