PUBLISHED 5/29/08 ----

Bakersfield is the most dangerous place in California to be a teen driver — or, presumably, to ride with one.

That’s one of the conclusions we can draw from a study by Allstate Insurance, “Allstate America’s Teen Driving Hotspots,” released earlier this month.

It’s particularly relevant as hundreds of local high school graduates take to the streets this week, newly freed from their scholarly obligations. June is the second-deadliest month of the year for U.S. teen drivers and their passengers, right behind July, according to the Allstate study.

Metro Bakersfield’s “teen fatal crash rate” — the figure Allstate assigned to the number of fatal crashes per 100,000 teens, was 38.95. That’s the third-worst rate among U.S. metropolitan areas with at least 750,000 people, and worst among the 11 California metro areas surveyed. Valley cities generally fared poorest in the state, with Modesto (36.70 per 100,000), Stockton (36.00), Riverside-San Bernardino (30.26) and Fresno (29.90) falling in behind Bakersfield and vicinity. San Francisco/Oakland and San Jose were the safest in the nation, with teen fatality rates less than a third of metro Bakersfield’s.

The usual suspects when it comes to teen traffic deaths — unused seat belts, alcohol and drugs — were not major factors in greater Bakersfield’s high death rate. Just 21 percent of teen fatalities were attributed to victims’ failure to use safety belts — among the lowest in the study. Just 10.5 percent involved alcohol, also among the lowest, and drugs were not reported as having been a primary factor in any fatal crashes involving teens.

What does that leave? Speed, population density, and — although it was not directly quantified in the study — distractions.

Speed was cited as a factor in 34.6 percent of fatal teen crashes, a figure that’s typical for the nation. The study also found that fatal crash rates for teens are double in rural areas compared to cities. Although 30,000 of the 43,437 fatal crashes involving teens from 2000 through 2005 were in metro areas, the average annual rate of fatal teen crashes in rural areas nationally was 51.5 per 100,000 teens, compared to 25.4 in metro areas. Metro Bakersfield’s population density of 90 people per square mile was the third-lowest in the study.

The study’s authors, who looked at recent federal crash statistics, insurance-claims data and U.S. Census bureau statistics, reported that the primary cause of teen crashes was driver error — 87 percent, at least between 2003 and 2005. And, anecdotally, a primary cause of driver error is distraction. That means text messaging, french fries, iPods, backseat goofballs — the usual.

What can a parent do? Talk about it with your teen. Insurers suggest parent-teen driving agreements and restrictions on driving after dark, for starters. We concur.

The best graduation gift a parent can give a teen, whether it’s a senior or a teen merely celebrating promotion to the next grade, is a discussion about driving. June is everyone’s favorite month. A little understanding might help ensure there are many Junes to come.