In the first post of this two part series, we highlighted the dangers posed by passengers. Specifically, we discussed the increased risk of being involved in a car accident when a teen driver has other young adults in the car with him.

Researchers of two studies wanted to go beyond the traditional assumption -- which has more often than not played out to be true -- that having passengers in the car with a teen driver increases their risk for causing a car accident. They instead looked into how the presence of the passengers actually changed how the driver behaved.

In the first study, researchers concluded that not only was there an increased risk for causing a car accident when a teen has other teens in the vehicle as well, but they found that there were several common characteristics in those teens who often traveled with their peers. Many of the teens surveyed who admitted to frequently having their friends in the car also saw themselves as thrill-seekers. They said that there was not a lot of regulation when it came to notifying their parents of their whereabouts, and when asked many had a less than stellar appreciation of the risk of driving.

The second study went further to look at whether gender played a role, and it did. Researchers found that female teens were also at a higher risk for distraction-related crashes when passengers were in the car, but that they rarely drove aggressively with or without passengers.

Boys on the other hand, were approximately six times more likely to break a traffic law through some illegal maneuver when they had an audience. Boys were also twice as likely to drive aggressively with passengers in the car as when they were alone.

Researchers hope that the data will help build programs to educate teen drivers about the dangers of passengers. The programs would work in tandem with graduated licensing laws that have been enacted in many states across the country.

Source: USA Today, "Teen driver's friends can be dangerous distractions, studies find," Robert Preidt, Jan. 30, 2012