(Radio Iowa) – While the month of May is the time for many Iowa high school graduation ceremonies, it’s also a time for warnings to the state’s newest and youngest drivers to take extra care when they slip behind the wheel for a drive. Iowa State Trooper Paul Gardner, from the Fort Dodge post, says we’re about to enter the period known as the 100 deadliest days of the year.
“That’s typically from Memorial Day to Labor Day, where we see an uptick of traffic fatalities that involve teenage drivers, teenage passengers,” Gardner says, “because obviously school is out, maybe less structure, and so there’s a little bit more freedom with those who are on summer break.” On average nationwide, eight people are killed every day in teen-involved crashes during the summer months, compared to around seven per day during the rest of the year.
“Fifty-nine percent of teenage fatalities in automobile crashes are involving a teenage driver,” Gardner says. “That’s a very high statistic for that age demographic, and so it’s very important that we have these discussions ahead of time to hopefully prevent this kind of tragedy from happening.”
Between 2019 and 2023, a Triple-A report finds teen drivers were involved in crashes where more than 13-thousand people died, and about one-third of them were between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Gardner notes, this year’s 100 deadliest days will actually be 105 days due to Memorial Day arriving on May 25th and with Labor Day falling on September 7th.
