Driving Ambition

Motor vehicle crashes remain one of the leading causes of death among teenagers. For the youngest drivers, getting behind the wheel marks freedom but also comes with measurable risk. At the University of California, Irvine, Federico E. Vaca, MD, MPH, professor and executive vice chair of emergency medicine, is determined to change that trajectory.

“Driving licensure among our youngest drivers remains a major life milestone, and it allows for newfound freedom and opportunity for not only youth but their parents as well. At the same time, learning to drive and licensure come at a time when youth are rapidly moving through life with new transitions in school, with friends, and likely exposure to alcohol and drugs,” he says. “Our priority … is to examine the complexities of young driver behavior and to thoroughly understand crash injury risk and crash prevention among this special group of drivers.”

Vaca’s work is at the intersection of health, transportation science and policy. A fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine and a researcher at UC Irvine’s Institute of Transportation Studies, he previously served as a medical fellow at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington, D.C. His long-standing goal is to prevent the injuries he has seen and treated in emergency departments and trauma centers through rigorous research, using the findings to inform and advance evidence-based programs and policies that save lives on the road.

Read the full article in UC Irvine News.