D. Sun, R.F. Benekohal, H. Estrada

Pages: 75-84

Abstract
Vehicle accidents have been one of the main causes of mortality worldwide for a number of years, with young drivers being over-represented in all types of accidents, in particular fatal accidents. About 90% of all accidents are the result of driver error. This is particularly prominent in young drivers because they have less experience compared to older drivers in recognizing risky situations and acting accordingly. In Texas, there are 3465 miles of two-way two-lane (TWTL) highways which comprise 62.4% of the total rural highways. Most of the young drivers in this study need to commute to school by these TWTL highways. These highways have lower geometric design standards as compared to the freeways and hence, the crash risks are more. The most prevalent forms of behavior reported by young drivers and studied in this paper include excessive speeding, cell phone use while driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, tailgating, failing to use seat belts, failure to yield the right-of-way for other road users and running stop signs. The study is based on the results of a survey of a random group of young drivers from South Texas. This study evaluated the dependence of gender on the behavior of young drivers on TWTL rural highways.

Keywords: young driver; driving behavior; tailgate; yield; stop sign