(STUDY FINDS) — BOSTON — Getting teenagers out of bed for school in the morning is quite a struggle, but there may be a good reason to let them catch those extra zzz’s. A recent study finds that teenagers are involved in significantly fewer accidents if their schools start later.
In 2015, the high schools of Fairfax County, Virginia, changed their start time from 7:20 am to 8:10 am. A Harvard-led research team analyzed the crash rate data of accidents involving teenagers for two school years before and after the change in start time. Over this period the crash rate in Fairfax County teens dropped significantly from 31.63 to 29.59 accidents per 1,000 drivers.
The crash rate stayed the same for teens in the rest of Virginia where school times did not change.
