What’s At Stake

This year, like every year, more than 5,000 teens will likely die on America’s roads.


There are many well-known factors that raise a teen driver’s risk of getting in a fatal crash: Speeding, drinking, talking, or textingon a cell phone and driving at night are among them. Yet there’s another dangerous factor that recent research shows few teens recognize: peer passengers.


Just one teen passenger doubles the risk a teen driver will get into a fatal crash; three or more passengers quadruples the risk. Yet a recent study by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm Insurance Companies® found that only 1 in 10 teens thinks that giving a friend a ride makes a difference in whether or not they are safe in a car.


The risk is not just for the driver: Another CHOP and State Farm study released in 2008 found that between ages 12 to 14, a child passenger’s risk of dying in a crash with a teen driver doubles, and the risk continues to rise for each teen year. Most teen passengers who die in crashes are riding with a teen driver.


Based on this research, Ride Like A Friend. Drive Like You Care focuses on increasing teens’ awareness of how passengers can be helpful and not harmful in the car and what drivers can do to make this happen. Teens helped develop the Ride Like A Friend peer-to-peer program, including practical tips on how passengers can be helpful. Buckling up, being there to help with directions or music control, and showing respect for the driver are some of the messages the program offers to teen passengers.  Messages targeted to drivers include setting rules like seatbelt use, asking for help when needed, and expecting respect.

Research on this topic also supports the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for graduated driver licensing laws and parents to require that teens not transport passengers under age 21 for the first six months of licensure and no more than one passenger under age 21 for the second six months.

The Ride Like A Friend Drive Like You Care campaign is supported by CHOP and State Farm.


Key Messages  for organizers to spread

  1. Distractions are deadly for teen drivers. Distractions are the No. 1 reason new drivers crash, and car crashes are the leading killer of teens.

  2. Peer passengers are a major factor in fatal teen crashes. Just one teen passenger doubles the risk a teen driver will get in a fatal crash. Having three or more peer passengers quadruples the risk.

  3. Few teens think passengers in the car affect their safety. Only 1 in 10 teens consider the presence of peer passengers as influential to their safety

  4. Teens can “ride like a friend” by wearing a seat belt, reducing distractions, respecting the driver, and helping the driver if asked. These safe passenger behaviors will help reduce crash risk and injuries and death due to crashes.

  5. Teens should limit peer passengers during the first year of independent driving. Fatal crash risk hits a lifetime high in the first six months of independent driving. Teen drivers should have no passengers under age 21 during the first six months after licensure, and no more than one peer passenger for the second six months.

  6. Teen passengers should not ride with novice drivers. Most teen passengers who die on the road are riding with teen drivers. Teens should not ride with peers for at least the first six months of independent driving.