A new safety analysis by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) revealed that 2010 has been a safer year for the state’s teen drivers.

In the first nine months of this year, young drivers between the ages of 15 and 25 were involved in 106,420 crashes. That’s down by about 4,100 crashes from the first nine months of 2009 - a 3 percent decline or about 14 fewer accidents each day since the beginning of the year.

The leading factors behind crashes involving young drivers are following too close, failing to yield to other traffic and driving too fast.

The ODOT safety analysis also shows that most crashes occur right after school, with the majority of accidents reported between the hours of 4 and 6 p.m.

Over the past year, ODOT has promoted several safe driving messages targeted to younger drivers, including efforts to convince teens to “Look Up, Hang Up and Go Slow in the Cone Zone” - an effort to decrease the number of accidents caused by distracted driving.

The effort is needed, ODOT says. In 2009, drivers between the ages of 15 and 25 were involved in 51 percent of all crashes on Ohio’s roadways - up from 39 percent in 2008.

Last year, young drivers accounted for 151,545 crashes and 402 fatalities.

For more information and safe driving tips for teenagers, visit www.dot.state.oh.us/Services/Pages/SlowfortheConeZone.

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