News release: “The number of fatal crashes involving 16- and 17-year old drivers dropped by more than a third between 2004 and 2008, but this doesn’t mean that parents and teens should be satisfied with the progress, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Crashes still remain the leading cause of death for teens in the United States, though most are preventable, the report says. Graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs, which help new drivers gain skills under low-risk conditions, are widely credited with contributing to the drop in deadly crashes involving teens, it says. The report shows wide variations from state to state, with teens in some states more likely than teens in others to be involved in fatal crashes. Nationally, the number of 16- and 17-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes decreased by 36 percent, from 2,230 in 2004 to 1,437 in 2008, said the study in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report – Drivers Aged 16 or 17 Years Involved in Fatal Crashes — United States, 2004–2008”