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Whether to drive children to daycare, older people to senior citizen events, athletic teams to sporting events, employees in work carpools, or teenagers to youth programs, 15-passenger vans are in high demand and are prevalent on our nation’s roads. However, these cumbersome vehicles can pose a safety risk to inexperienced van drivers and other road users. In this section, we recommend van drivers insist that all occupants wear seat belts at all times; that drivers of 15-passenger vans are trained and experienced; tires are checked at least once a week, using the manufacturer’s recommended pressure levels; and no loads are placed on the roof of the vehicle.

After spending years protecting your children from all sorts of dangers on the road and off, you now face the prospect of handing them the keys to the family car. It's time for them to learn how to drive. Are you prepared? We can help you mold your teen into a safe and capable driver.

If you are an older driver or a caregiver, NHTSA encourages you to talk about driving safety. We offer material to help you understand how aging can affect driving and what you can do to continue driving safely as you age, such as adapting a vehicle to meet specific needs.

In 2016, 37,461 people died in motor vehicle crashes. Research shows that the vast number of vehicle crashes are tied to human error. NHTSA is working to promote safety through sharing information on vehicle technologies that hold the potential to reduce the number of crashes and to save thousands of lives every year. Learn more about NHTSA's work to bring these technologies to America's cars and trucks.

Every day, almost 29 people in the United States die in alcohol-impaired vehicle crashes—that's one person every 50 minutes in 2016. Drunk-driving fatalities have fallen by a third in the last three decades; however, drunk-driving crashes claim more than 10,000 lives per year. In 2010, the most recent year for which cost data is available, these deaths and damages contributed to a cost of $44B per year.

The continuing evolution of automotive technology aims to deliver even greater safety benefits and Automated Driving Systems (ADS) that—one day—can handle the whole task of driving when we don’t want to or can’t do it ourselves. Fully automated cars and trucks that drive us, instead of us driving them, will become a reality. These self-driving vehicles ultimately will integrate onto U.S. roadways by progressing through six levels of driver assistance technology advancements in the coming years.