The results of a driver safety study recently administered by a national institute at Rockdale High School in Conyers are heartening and yet more than just a bit discouraging at the same time.

A target audience of young drivers under 18 was surveyed in February by a team from the Texas Transportation Institute ("TTI"), which conducted a similar study in 2007 at Duluth High School. The central goal of the study was to get a feel for what teenagers truly know about the most common driving risks for new drivers, including speeding, night driving and other dangers.

The answer: Apparently, not much, even after drivers' training and licensing. That much is clear from both compiled responses and the fact that about 50,000 Georgia teen drivers are involved in motor vehicle accidents every year.

Teens' knowledge about the five main driving risks for young drivers - which TTI states are driving at night, on-board distractions like cell phones and texting, speeding, low seat belt use and driving under the influence of alcohol - seems woeful at best. Only three percent of respondents, for example, were even aware that night driving poses any special risk for teens. One stunning group response: Only nine percent perceived that not buckling up in a car is dangerous.

As to answers for how to improve on these unsatisfactory results, TTI responds that getting teen drivers themselves actively involved in teaching and discussion is key. Teens sitting passively and being bombarded with safety information by adults is unlikely to be effective, say researchers. The TTI study and program is a peer-to-peer effort called Teens in the Driver Seat that actively uses teen drivers to help deliver its message.

And parents and other adult drivers should take heart. Teens' awareness on certain issues does seem to be increasing. The Rockdale High School results are better than those received four years ago at Duluth High School, especially regarding teens' awareness of cell phone and texting dangers, subjects which have received a lot of media and instructional attention in recent years.

Related Resource: Albuquerque Express "Teen driver scheme getting good results" March 10, 2011