Teen Drivers, SUVs Can Be Dangerous Combination

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2004 — -- Six Denver-area friends piled into a Chevy Suburban to head out to a high school dance. They had not been drinking, the teen driver was not speeding, but she lost control of the sport utility vehicle. It rolled over and crashed. One passenger was left paralyzed. Another, 15-year-old Jeremy Bottoms, lost his life.

Bottoms' father is convinced that his son lost his life, partly because the teen driver was behind the wheel of an SUV. "It was a circumstance where the young lady was not accustomed to driving this big Suburban," said Farland Bottoms. "Her car was much smaller and it was only a four-passenger vehicle and she was going to be driving six of them and so her dad loaned her the Suburban, without thinking she was not that well accustomed to it."

More than 6,000 teenagers die every year in motor vehicle crashes. Most of those deaths are in accidents involving passenger vehicles. But according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last year, more than 1,500 teens died in accidents involving SUVs and pickups. Three hundred seventy-three of those who died were the teen drivers of SUVs. The number of teen drivers dying in SUV accidents has increased every year since 2000.

SUVs are three times as likely to roll over as other vehicles. Add an inexperienced teen driver to the equation and some say it can be a deadly combination. "The question is, what kind of vehicle do we want to put the least experienced, least capable driver on our highway in," said Lon Anderson of AAA. "Do we want to put those drivers in a car that we know has a much higher tendency to roll over, and therefore cause very serious or fatal injuries?"

Anderson said many teens push their parents to get them an SUV. And, he said, parents may believe an SUV, with its large size, is safer for their children. But he worries that the extra size encourages teens to pile on passengers. Studies have shown teen drivers have a much higher chance of an accident with each young passenger added to the vehicle.

"Once you get more than a couple of teens in the car with a new teen driver," said Anderson, "it can quickly become a rolling party barge, not a rationally operated vehicle."

Even an SUV owner's organization admits the vehicles may not be the best choice for some new drivers. But the group argues the bigger problem is driver behavior. "A young, new driver in any vehicle is a very, very potentially lethal combination," said Barry McCahill, president of Sport Utility Owners of America. "And I think parents have to be more involved in the driving behavior and a little less concerned about the particular vehicle."

McCahill added: "We have to be vigilant to make sure [their kids] actually wear the safety belt. We have to make sure there was no alcohol on board. We have to be careful who they're hanging out with, how many kids [are] in the vehicle."

Bottoms' father doesn't disagree that driver behavior is also important, but he said parents should also think twice before giving their child a key to an SUV. Most safety experts say the best car for that new driver is a mid-sized or large sedan. Teens still have size and weight to help protect them, as well as a vehicle that is less likely to roll over.