Because teenagers make up a rather small percentage of the entire driving population, the raw number of fatalities may not appear particularly troubling. But when you look at those numbers in relation to the proportion of adults and teenagers on the road, you'll see that teenagers end up in a disproportionate number of fatal crashes.

In a couple of years, we should be able to see if there is any correlation between graduated licensing programs and teenage crash fatalities. In the meantime, it's interesting to note that Wyoming, with its low population, still ranks No. 1 in teen fatalities. The state has no graduated licensing program. 

      

1996 Teenage Motor Vehicle Crash Facts
Rank	State	Adults: Age 20 + Death rate per 100,00 licensed drivers	Teenagers: Death rate per 100,000 licensed drivers	Teenagers: Percent of total licensed population	Teenagers: Percent of total fatal crashes	Teenagers: Fatal crash involvement based on licensed population
1	Wyoming	33	111	7.88%	20.98%	266%
2	New Mexico	34	106	6.34%	16.42%	259%
3	Mississippi	40	103	7.22%	15.54%	215%
4	South Carolina	31	98	5.53%	14.95%	270%
5	West Virginia	22	97	5.56%	20.00%	360%
6	Indiana	22	92	5.07%	17.58%	347%
7	Kentucky	28	91	5.72%	15.93%	278%
8	Arizona	32	89	4.89%	11.98%	245%
9	Texas	25	86	5.25%	15.16%	289%
10	Arkansas	30	86	6.13%	14.96%	244%
11	Georgia	26	85	6.27%	16.77%	268%
12	Tennessee	28	79	5.74%	13.88%	242%
13	Missouri	26	78	6.34%	16.19%	256%
14	Idaho	25	76	8.20%	19.77%	241%
15	Maine	16	75	5.01%	19.53%	389%
16	North Carolina	25	74	5.31%	13.73%	259%
17	Oklahoma	27	74	6.57%	15.16%	231%
18	Vermont	15	74	4.89%	19.32%	395%
19	South Dakota	28	71	7.83%	16.57%	212%
20	Florida	22	71	3.57%	10.53%	295%
21	Alabama	32	70	6.55%	12.60%	192%
22	Kansas	23	65	7.39%	17.52%	237%
23	Louisiana	26	65	5.70%	12.42%	218%
24	Minnesota	17	64	5.98%	18.92%	316%
25	Colorado	19	62	5.31%	14.75%	278%
26	Delaware	19	61	5.53%	15.52%	280%
27	Hawaii	17	61	5.11%	15.54%	304%
28	Alaska	15	59	5.03%	16.25%	323%
29	Nevada	28	59	4.74%	8.91%	188%
30	District of Columbia	17	58	2.60%	8.06%	310%
31	Oregon	17	58	5.58%	16.03%	287%
32	California	17	56	3.94%	11.28%	286%
33	Iowa	20	55	7.02%	16.34%	233%
34	Michigan	19	55	6.41%	15.68%	245%
35	Virginia	16	52	4.84%	13.60%	281%
36	Nebraska	21	52	7.25%	15.02%	207%
37	Wisconsin	17	51	5.84%	14.45%	248%
38	Ohio	15	49	5.28%	14.48%	274%
39	Pennsylvania	16	49	4.41%	11.98%	272%
40	Washington	16	48	5.18%	13.62%	263%
41	New York	13	44	4.00%	11.90%	298%
42	Illinois	17	43	5.96%	13.34%	224%
43	Maryland	16	42	4.27%	9.87%	231%
44	Montana	31	40	9.14%	10.50%	115%
45	New Jersey	13	38	3.93%	10.15%	258%
46	Utah	20	38	10.31%	16.20%	157%
47	Massachusetts	8	31	3.82%	12.50%	327%
48	Connecticut	12	30	4.43%	10.00%	226%
49	North Dakota	16	29	8.49%	12.94%	152%
50	New Hampshire	13	28	5.37%	10.45%	195%
51	Rhode Island	10	19	4.01%	7.25%	181%
	U.S. average	20	63	5.14%	13.85%	269%

Source: National Association of Independent Insurers, based on government statistics.