The effects of brain development on teen driving
**A contributed post as written for The Safe Driver.
Many people know that teenagers are more likely to get into car crashes than older adults, but most people probably chalk this statistic up to inexperience. After all, the more a person drives, the less he/she should be prone to mistakes.
However, lack of experience is just part of the equation, as this infographic explains. Teenagers actually have different reactions than adults due to brain development. Did you know that the frontal cortex section of the brain is less developed among adolescents? This is the part of the brain responsible for reasoning and logical decision making. Researchers are also finding that communication between different parts of the brain doesn’t become fully developed until adulthood.
This infographic, created by the car accident lawyers at Tate Law Offices PC, explains how the stages of brain development in adolescents can affect driving skills and decisions.
www.tatelawoffices.com/car-accident-lawyer/brain-development-and-driving
If you have a teen driver at home, it is important to realize that they may not think though decisions and reactions as thoroughly as an adult would. Because of this, it is imperative that teens are enrolled in excellent driver’s ed courses, so that they can be sure of what decisions they should make in a crisis ahead of time.
Perhaps raising the age for teenage drivers is in order. In congested cities, the probability goes up dramatically when it comes to accidents behind the wheel.