More teenagers are killed from driving old cars, according to a recent published report.
In a recently published study in a journal called "Injury Prevention," it was concluded that one of the major reasons for teenagers' deaths are the age of the vehicle they were driving.
Authors Eric R. Teoh and Anne T. McCartt, who spearheads the research department at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, wrote the article about the causes of teenage deaths in the journal.
According to Dr. McCartt, who is the lead author in the article, wrote that almost 50% of the teenagers killed on roads in the U.S. within the recent years were driving old cars more than 11 years old. The old cars were found to have little or no "key safety features" installed.
The researchers noted that crucial safety features such as the Electronic Stability Control, which is existing on modern vehicles, were not present on the old cars, resulting in a higher risk for accidents and deaths of the teenagers. In addition, the researchers noted that "larger heavier" cars provided more protection, compared to smaller cars.
In the study, the authors discovered that more teenagers drove small cars, compared to older drivers, resulting in higher fatality rates for teenage drivers.
The study was based on 2008 to 2012 data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) in the U.S. The authors studied the data of 2,420 teenage drivers with ages within the range of 15 up to 17. The data was then compared with cars driven by drivers aged between 35 and 50 years old.
On December 18, the study was published.