ACCEPTANCE OF AND ENGAGEMENT IN RISKY DRIVING BEHAVIORS BY TEENAGERS Sheila Sarkar and Marie Andreas ABSTRACT Data gathered from 1,430 teenage student drivers and 880 teenage traffic violators were used to examine the levels of exposure to risky driving behaviors and perceptions conceming the level of danger of such behaviors. For student drivers, 55% reported exposure to risky driving by being in a car with a driver engaging in such activities as drunk driving, drag racing, and reckless driving. For the traffic violators, 43% had been engaged in one or more of the risky driving behaviors. Teenagers who had been exposed to risky driving practices were more accepting of risky driving behaviors. INTRODUCTION In the United States, teenagers drive less than other age groups except for the very oldest group, yet their number of accidents and fatalities is disproportionately high. The accident rate per mile for 16- to 19-year-olds is four times higher than among older drivers. The newest drivers are at the highest risk; the crash rate per mile is three times higher for 16-year-olds than for 18- to 19-year olds. The Califor- nia Highway Patrol (2000) reported that in Califomia 37,532 teenage drivers (between the ages of 16-19) were involved in accidents in the year 2000. Out of those, 22,862 were the fault of the teenage driver. Over 20% of all traffic deaths in the United States occurred when a teenager was driving; for teenage passenger fatalities 63% occurred when they were riding with another teenager (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2001). Adolescent drivers tend to engage in numerous risky behaviors in- cluding speeding which has been found to significantly correlate with The authors gratefuUy acknowledge the assistance of Gosia Kubiak and David Brewer in collecting, transcribing, and coding the data. Sheila Sarkar, Civil Engineering Department, Florida Atlantic University; Director of Califomia Institute ofTransportation Safety, San Diego State Uni- versity. Marie Andreas, Califomia Institute of Transportation Safety, San Diego State University. Requests for reprints should be sent to Sheila Sarkar, Florida Atlantic Uni- versity, Civil Engineering Department, 777 Glades Road—ENG 213, Boca Ra- ton, Florida 33431. E-mail: msarkar@mail.sdsu.edu ADOLESCENCE, Vol. 39, No. 156, Winter 2004 Libra Publishers, Inc., 3089C Clairemont Dr., PMB 383, San Diego, CA 92117