Breaking News for Culpeper and Warrenton Accident Victims

Car Crash Deaths Increase Starting At Age 12

Posted on Mar 18, 2008

Child passengers, ages 12 to 16, are more likely to die in a car crash than younger children, according to a study just released in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. This risk increases with each teenage year.

Conducted as part of an on-going research collaboration between The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm Insurance Companies, the study offers evidence-based guidelines for parents and policymakers to help protect this vulnerable age group. Researchers examined 45,560 crashes involving 8- to 17-year-old passengers.

Between 2000 and 2005, 9,807 passengers in this age group died in crashes. "We saw a clear tipping point between ages 12 and 14, where child passengers became much more likely to die in a crash than their younger counterparts," says Flaura Koplin-Winston, M.D., Ph.D., founder and co-scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP.