The 100 Deadliest Days: Who Pays When an Arkansas Teen Causes a Crash?

Under Arkansas Code § 27-16-702, the adult who signed a teenager’s license application is liable alongside the teenager for damages the teenager causes while behind the wheel.1 

Most parents sign the form at an Arkansas State Police testing office, think nothing of it, and never learn what it means until a claim shows up. 

Why Do Teen Wrecks Spike Between Memorial Day and Labor Day?

AAA counted 2,636 people killed in crashes involving a teen driver in 2024. Of those, 825 died between Memorial Day and Labor Day.2 Safety researchers call the window the 100 Deadliest Days. Eight deaths a day over the summer, seven deaths a day the rest of the year.2

School’s out. That’s most of the explanation. Teenagers put on miles they wouldn’t otherwise, at hours nobody supervises, with friends in the back seat. A shift at the restaurant ends near eleven, three kids pile into a Civic, and every parent involved is asleep. 

Per mile traveled, 16- and 17-year-olds run about three times the adult risk of a fatal crash.3 Roughly 36% of teen-driver deaths occur between 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., and speed turns up in about 30%.3

Who Actually Gets Hurt in These Crashes?

It’s usually not the teen. AAA Foundation research puts it near two-thirds: passengers, people in the other car, pedestrians, and cyclists.3 Worth sitting with if you have a 17-year-old at home. The friend in the passenger seat has parents, too, and they will have a claim against your family. We have handled both sides of that phone call, and neither one is easy.

Who Is Liable When a Teen Driver Causes an Arkansas Wreck?

First, the signer is liable. Section 27-16-702 lets an injured person pursue the parent and the teenager together.1 Suing a 16-year-old with no assets accomplishes little. That same statute applies to any adult who lets a minor drive, licensed or not, so handing over the keys to a kid whose privileges are already suspended opens a second front with its own facts.

Coverage is the other half of it. Arkansas requires $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash in bodily injury liability.4 One helicopter flight and a spinal surgery can exceed that amount before settlement is even discussed. 

Underinsured motorist coverage on the family policy usually determines the value of these car accident claims, which is why we ask for the declarations page on the first call.

What Arkansas Actually Requires of Young Drivers

Arkansas Code Ann. § 27-16-804 governs restricted licenses, learner’s licenses, and intermediate licenses as part of Arkansas’s graduated driver licensing (GDL) program.5 The short version:

• Learner’s license at 14 and 15, with a driver over 21 in the car every time.
• Intermediate license at 16 and 17. One unrelated minor passenger is the cap, unless a licensed adult over 21 sits up front.
• Intermediate drivers stay off the road from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., unless a licensed adult over 21 rides along, the trip is to or from work, school, or a church activity, or an emergency requires them to be there.
• No phone for learner or intermediate drivers, with narrow exceptions the statute spells out.

Breaking one of these won’t win a civil case by itself. It does hand a jury a broken rule sitting next to a wrecked car, and adjusters price files with that in mind.

If a Teen Driver Hit You

Three years to file suit, in most injury cases.6 Arkansas trims a plaintiff’s recovery by their share of blame and cuts it off entirely at 50% or more fault, meaning a plaintiff must be less at fault than the defendant to recover anything, under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122 (modified comparative fault.) 7 

• Photograph the scene and any injuries sustained from the crash. 
• Get names before witnesses leave the scene.
• See a doctor the same day, even if you feel fine, since adrenaline hides a concussion for hours and a treatment gap is the first thing an adjuster points at nine months later.
• Don’t give a recorded statement to any insurance company before you consult an attorney. This includes your own insurance company. Adjusters open with sympathy and a few easy questions, then ask how fast you were going and whether you saw the other car. Those answers end up in a fault percentage later.

Parents on the receiving end get blunt news from us. Homeowners coverage won’t protect you. Your signature already did its work, and the claim against the family is real. What’s left to argue is the amount of damages, and that discussion starts with the auto policy limits and any other applicable household coverage.

Contact an Arkansas Car Accident Attorney

Jason Hatfield has represented injured Arkansans for over 25 years. The firm has offices in Springdale, serving families across Northwest Arkansas, and in Fort Smith, serving families across the River Valley and Western Arkansas. Whether your teenager was injured or your household is facing a claim, contact us at (479) 361-3575. The case review is free, there’s no fee unless we win, and somebody picks up at two in the morning.