Youth are still over represented in fatal crashes compared to the older population.
The rate of involvement is greater for youth for both alcohol and non alcohol related crashes based on total population, on the licensed driver population and miles driven. After an eleven year decrease in the youth population from 1982, this population has been increasing since 1993. Based on these trends, the numbers will go up unless we intervene. However, based on a youth traffic fatality rate per 100,000 populations, Region 4 states have made progress since 1996 but every Southeastern state is still above the national rate. Amazingly, statistical comparisons show that a larger percentage of youthful drivers are killed in Region 4 as a group than are nationally.