Back To School Season Can Be Dangerous For College-Age Drivers

Pomona is home to numerous college students, and we are proud of this fact. However, it is important for students and other drivers to keep in mind the importance of road safety, defensive driving and all traffic laws. In fact, during the upcoming back-to-school season, there tends to be an uptick in car accidents and associated injuries.

Statistics show that approximately 70 percent of college-age youngsters have access to cars and/or they have vehicles of their own. These students — especially first-year students — are living out some of the best years of their lives during their college years. They are also doing a lot of experimentation with partying, drinking, drugs and socializing while also low on sleep and trying to stay on top of their studies.

Drinking and drugs can lead to intoxicated driving, and fatigued or distracted driving can lead to serious accidents. In fact, younger drivers are statistically more likely to engage in fatigued driving, and they have a higher chance of being involved in an alcohol-related or distracted driving-related crash.

It is important to keep in mind that younger drivers are not the only ones who are hurt in these kinds of accidents. Their passengers and other drivers they share the roadway with can also get seriously hurt. Therefore, when drivers choose to drive carefully and responsibly, they are not only saving their own lives, but they are also saving the lives of those they share the road with. When such injurious accidents do occur, and they are deemed to be the fault of another driver, injured victims have the right to pursue financial restitution from the party or parties who are deemed to be at fault for the crash.

Source: Brain Injury Society, “Back to College Means Back to Accidents,” Jacob Masters, accessed Aug. 26, 2016