Contributing Circumstances Impact on Missouri Teenage Driver Crash Fatalities

Missouri data from 2002-2011 are used to analyze the major circumstances that increase the risk of fatality in crashes involving teenage drivers, given a motor vehicle crash occurs. The frequencies of contributing circumstances among teenage and older drivers are compared and a multinomial logistic regression model is used to predict the probability of crash severity under different circumstances. For crashes involving teenage drivers, it is found that driving too fast for conditions, speeding, inattention, and driving on the wrong side are the most frequent circumstances cited in fatal crashes, and are major factors that increase the likelihood of a fatality occurring.