• Thirty-eight people are injured every day in Maryland as a result of a crash involving a young driver, on average. (Source: MAARS²)
   
• Every three days in Maryland, someone dies as a result of a young driver-involved crash, on average. (Source: MAARS)
   
• In 2007, there were 98 fatal crashes, 7,357 crashes involving injuries, and nearly 11,538 other reported crashes involving young drivers in Maryland. (Source: MAARS)
   
• The number of young driver-involved crashes in Maryland has decreased each year since 2003. (Source: SHA)
   
• 16- and 17-year-old drivers represent only 1.6 of all licensed Maryland drivers, and 1.3 percent of all miles driven³, but these drivers represent 11 percent of all driver fatalities, on average. (Source: MVA, SHA)
   
• In 2007, the last year for which complete data is available, 615 people were killed in vehicle crashes in Maryland. One hundred twelve of these were killed in crashes involving young drivers aged 16 to 20 years, representing more than 18 percent of all our traffic-related deaths. (Source: SHA)
   
• In 2007, only 36 of those killed in young-driver involved crashes were the young drivers themselves. Sixty-three others were killed as passengers of these drivers, as drivers or passengers of other vehicles, or as a pedestrian. (Source: SHA)
   
• Over the last ten years, 90% of the young drivers killed in fatal crashes were deemed to be at fault in those crashes. (Source: SHA)
   
• Research shows that 16 year-old drivers are involved in 35 crashes per mile traveled, compared to an average of just six for all other ages (a little more than 5 for ages 20-80, there is a dramatic increase above age 80)[4]
   
• The leading contributing factors cited in police reports in young driver crashes include: not paying attention, driving too fast for conditions, failure to yield right of way and following too closely.
   
• A 2007 NHTSA research report concluded that passenger restrictions do reduce crashes and injury to young teens without measurably offsetting increases among other age groups.
   
• Passengers in the car with a new driver may not only distract the driver, but may actually encourage the driver “to take more risks than they ordinarily would — risks like driving faster and closer to the cars in front of them.” (“Observed effects of teenage passengers on the risky driving behavior of teenage drivers”, B. Simons-Morton et al. is published in Accident Analysis & Prevention 37 (2005).
   
• According to a 2006 Maryland survey on traffic safety issues, more than 85% of respondents said they thought teens with provisional licenses should have restrictions for when, where, and under what conditions they can drive. (Source: Monitoring the Future of Maryland: A Survey of Highway, University of Maryland, 2006)
   
• According to the same survey 86% parents of teen drivers supported these restrictions. (Source: Monitoring the Future of Maryland: A Survey of Highway, University of Maryland, 2006)
   
• According to the same survey nearly 92% of all respondents said they supported a passenger restriction during the provisional license phase. (Source: Monitoring the Future of Maryland: A Survey of Highway, University of Maryland, 2006)
   

Source:  Maryland Highway Safety Office