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SDSU Marketing & Communications
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SDSU Study

Too Fast, Too Furious?
New Data Shows Teens Have Dangerous Ideas About Safe Driving

SAN DIEGO, Monday, June 2, 2003 - Many teenagers drive as dangerously on real city streets as the actors who star in movies about reckless driving, according to a survey by researchers at San Diego State University.

The survey questioned 2,310 Southern California teens between 15 and 18 years old who were taking driving lessons, either to earn their license for the first time or to fulfill a court order related to a traffic violation. It found that these young drivers on average felt they were speeding only if they were driving around or above 90 mph, that teen traffic violators are less concerned with many forms of risky driving behavior, and that 62 percent of the entire group admitted to being in a car during such activities as drunk driving, drag racing, reckless driving or other dangerous acts.

"It's discomforting to learn what these young drivers think is safe driving behavior," said Sheila Sarkar, a civil and environmental engineering professor and director of SDSU's California Institute of Transportation Safety. "These results strongly indicate that teenagers are receiving the wrong messages about driving and being safe on our streets and freeways."

Sarkar said numerous factors contribute to teenagers' dangerously flip attitudes behind the wheel, including poor examples of safe driving from friends and parents, video games that emphasize speeding and evading police, and the popularity of movies that glorify reckless driving such as "2 Fast 2 Furious," which opens in theaters nationwide later this week.

The survey group consisted of 1,430 teens who were seeking their first driver's license and had an average age of 15.6, and 880 teens who had committed a traffic offense and had an average age of 16.8. They were surveyed between January 2002 and December 2002.

When asked what they considered to be the threshold of speeding, the teen violator group's average response was 93 mph. Learning drivers were not much slower, with an average response of 88 mph.

All participants also were asked to rank six driving behaviors in terms of how risky or dangerous they believed them to be: drunk driving, speeding, sleepy driving, slow driving, angry driving and distracted driving. The teen violators ranked four of the six (drunk driving, speeding, sleepy driving and angry driving) as significantly less risky than the learning drivers did.

"This may indicate these activities have become more acceptable to teen traffic violators, that they have become more jaded to the risks and consequences that accompany these acts," Sarkar said.

Of the teen violators surveyed, nearly 73 percent reported they were exposed firsthand to reckless driving, speeding, driving while intoxicated or other dangerous driving practices. Meanwhile, more than half (55 percent) of learning drivers reported the same exposure - even before they could legally drive themselves.

Sarkar also said that the study found that males were more likely than females to have driven while drunk, drag raced, driven recklessly or used drugs just before driving. Females also considered drunk driving, sleepy driving and angry driving to be much more dangerous than the males did.

San Diego State University is the oldest and largest higher education institution in the San Diego region. Founded in 1897, SDSU has grown to offer bachelor's degrees in 79 areas, master's degrees in 64 areas and doctorates in 13. SDSU's more than 34,000 students participate in academic curricula distinguished by direct contact with faculty and an increasing international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information log on to www.sdsu.edu.

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