I found this infographic (click on it to view full size) on the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety website. It’s from a study that shows a strong association between the number and age of passengers present in a vehicle when a teenager is driving and the risk of a teen driver dying in a crash.

The report, “Teen Driver Risk in Relation to Age and Number of Passengers,” found that the likelihood of a 16- or 17-year-old driver being killed in a crash, per mile driven, increases with each additional young passenger in the vehicle. Compared to driving with no passengers, a 16- or 17-year-old driver’s fatality risk:

 Increases 44 percent when carrying one passenger younger than 21 (and no older passengers)
 Doubles when carrying two passengers younger than 21 (and no older passengers)
 Quadruples when carrying three or more passengers younger than 21 (and no older passengers)

Conversely, carrying at least one passenger aged 35 or older cuts a teen driver’s risk of death by 62 percent.

Want to know more? Check out the link to the report above.