The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm Insurance Companies recently published new research that pinpoints the most common errors teen drivers make that lead to a serious crash, and they aren’t the errors you think.

Researchers analyzed a nationally-representative federal database of more than 800 crashes involving teen drivers and identified a few common “critical errors” that are often one of the last in a chain of events leading up to a crash.  Seventy-five percent of these crashes were due to a critical teen driver error.  The two biggest reasons:

• 42% of teen crashes were caused by poorly-developed safety threat awareness or risk assessment skills
• 20% of teen crashes were caused by distractions

The researchers noted that environmental conditions, such as poor weather, vehicle malfunction, aggressive driving, or physical impairments such as drowsy driving were not primary factors in most crashes.

This study helps dispel the myth that most teen crashes are due to aggressive driving or thrill-seeking,” said Allison Curry, PhD, lead author and a researcher at CHOP’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP). “Promoting safe driving skills is as important as preventing problem behaviors.”

Click here to read the full press release from CHOP and State Farm.