In 2024, young drivers comprised just over 5 percent of licensed drivers nationwide, but accounted for 9 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes, according to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis.
"We can conclude that both severe crash numbers and rates for teen drivers are higher post-pandemic compared to pre-pandemic numbers and rates," said
Caitlin Northcutt, a researcher with the University of Kentucky's School of Public Health.
The data also showed aggressive, impaired, and distracted driving are among major contributing factors. Crash risk was 40 percent higher in rural areas, 56 percent higher on the weekends, and five times higher at night.
Asked specifically about the impact of the pandemic at a committee hearing in Frankfort this week, Northcutt said there's not enough research to definitively answer why numbers rose in the aftermath.
"Children that grew up through the pandemic, their experience in terms of developmental maturity is very different, and I think it's going to take a lot of time for us to understand globally what's happened and how that transfers to crash rates," she said.
Ultimately, Kentucky's Highway Safety Plan seeks to reduce traffic deaths statewide to fewer than 500 by 2029.