Teenage Car Accidents: The Weirdly Wired World Of The Teenage Brain
Posted by Evan Bassett on Fri, Oct 28, 2011
In an earlier blog about two of the demographic groups most often involved in Tampa and St. Petersburg-area auto accidents, we briefly mentioned teens. In that article we were discussing why our area has so many traffic accidents. We briefly discussed teens.
Our teen’s brains are, well, different. They aren’t fully developed. While this rings true with conventional wisdom (and anecdotal evidence), there’s plenty of scientific evidence to back up the claim. A lot of it has to do with the frontal lobe.
St. Petersburg Car Accidents And Teenagers: What Bassett Law Firm Attorneys Think About
In March of 2010, Richard Knox did a story for National Public Radio about the teenage brain. In it, he described how neurologists have found that the brain doesn’t become fully functional until around our mid-20’s. In that story, he describes a 16 year-old boy on his way to school. Seemingly devoid of thought, he turned left in front of an oncoming vehicle. Fortunately, neither driver was hurt. But it prompted his mother, a Harvard expert on epilepsy, to look deeper into brain development.
What she found out is that teens have a partially connected frontal lobe. What that means to you and I is that they aren’t as capable of making wise decisions as a fully developed adult. You might be thinking to yourself, “Well, I don’t need a scientist to tell me that!” And you’re probably right. But the evidence is striking because it can aid us in creating useful, intelligent and informed legislation for our developing drivers.
Jensen herself said in the report that we often think of teens as rude and self-centered people who do not yet consider how their actions impact others. She went on to say that requires “insight.” Not surprisingly, “insight” is associated with…yes…the frontal lobe. It’s all simply a matter of neurological development.
Tampa Teen Drivers And Alcohol
Because teen brains are in the throws of nearly being grown up but still showing signs of adolescence, they are still a “sponge,” soaking up everything around them. That’s how kids learn. But as a part of that, they are at significantly higher risk to form addictions. Because car accidents are the number 1 killer of teens, and because 40 percent of all teen-related traffic deaths involve alcohol, the conclusions to be drawn from these facts are fairly obvious.
Teens are at and pose a greater traffic risk than do nearly all other groups.
Let’s be clear: We are not picking on our teenagers and our concern shouldn’t be confused or conflated with this at all. We’re simply imparting the physiological facts and evidence to our readers for their awareness. If you have been in an accident with a young driver, contact the attorneys of Bassett Law Firm.
