6 Teens Die In CA Car Crashes Every Day, CHP Wants It To Stop

CALIFORNIA — The Golden State loses the equivalent of eight large school buses filled with teenagers each year to car crashes, according to Impact Teen Drivers. And the California Highway Patrol reports that six teens die in car crashes every day.

The CHP is teaming up with Impact Teen Drivers to help end these deaths. The agency will partner with ITD to teach young people positive driving habits and behaviors to teens statewide through virtual classes and enforcement, the agency announced Wednesday.

Ten percent of all drivers 15 to 19 who died in car crashes were found to have been distracted at the time of the crash, the CHP said in a Wednesday statement. All of those accidents were preventable. And based on miles driven, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that teens are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.

“Teen drivers are the most at risk of driving distracted. They are more likely than any other demographic to be involved in traffic crashes where distracted driving is a factor,” said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley Wednesday.

The CHP and ITD will begin offering virtual classes at schools and and community events throughout the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will includes education and enforcement components to teens statewide through Sept. 30 2021.

"Impact Teen Drivers, CHP, and the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) partner to offer free in-person and online training for parents and teens — together, we can stop the #1 killer of teens,” said Dr. Kelly Browning in a statement, executive director of ITD.

The initiative is funded by a yearlong Teen Distracted Drivers Education and Enforcement X grant provided from OTS through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Sadly, many of these crashes will result in injuries and deaths," Stanley added. "We hope to help eliminate these preventable deadly crashes.”

Stanley will retire Nov. 16 but he has worked on several traffic safety initiatives, including the Impaired Driving Section, which revised enforcement policies consistent with the use of cannabis when it became legal.

SEE ALSO: CA Appoints First Black Woman To Lead The CHP