A recent article in The New York Times about teen driving (“New Lessons To Pave a Road to Safety,” Monday April 9, page D5), to which I will respond in my next post (because it says some things with which I disagree), describes a recent report into Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine that I thought I should pass along.
In an early post on this blog, I discussed the differences between purposeful and recreational driving. I pointed out that, in general, when teens have a destination, a timetable, a defined route, and a consequence for not arriving on time — driving to school into morning, for example — crash rates are lower. This is a well-documented fact, but this new report in the Journal points out that parents also need to bear in mind fatigue, and one of the factors in sleep deprivation is when a teen’s high school opens its doors in the morning.
The Journal’s study compared crash rates for teens at two high schools in Virginia, one in Virginia Beach and one in the neighboring town of Chesapeake. The Virginia Beach school starts at 7:20 a.m., while the other school begins at 8:30 a.m.. Guess what: the crash rate for the earlier- starting school was 41 percent higher. The authors were quick to say that the starting time could not explain all of the difference, but they also discounted other potential explanations such as traffic conditions in the area surrounding the school. So, the study seems to deliver a lesson that, like many aspects of parenting of teen drivers, seems to be obvious yet lies just below the surface of consciousness for many parents: whether your teen is driving fatigued to school depends in part on how early the school day starts.
I will not argue that this study, by itself, is proof that school should start later. This topic has been thoroughly researched and debated, because it is well know that the biorhythms of teenagers are different from those of adults. They need more sleep, and they don’t wake up until what adults would consider midmorning. I think this new sleep/crash study is just more evidence that parent supervision of teens requires a close watch of sleep and sleep deprivation, and shows that there are two parts to the equation: when the teen goes to sleep, and when they have to get up to go to school. And let us not forget about sports or activities that occur before school.
A good lesson to keep in mind as millions on the East Coast of the U.S. are about to get up at 4 a.m. to watch the royal wedding.
