Recent studies linking the car accident rates of teenagers in Virginia, with the early start of some schools, seems to suggest that a later daily start time will create a decrease in the teenage automobile accidents. The 1998 study by Dr. Phillips, as well as the more in-depth 2008 study by Dr. Robert Vorona, seems to validate this link.

Dr. Phillip's 1998 case study involved the crash rates for Lexington, Kentucky. Two years after the school board implemented a later daily start time. While the overall state was experiencing a 7.8% increase in the teen driver accidents, Lexton's rate dropped by 16.5%.

Dr. Robert Vorona of Easter Virginia medical school in Norfolk, Virginia used a much large source of data in his 2008 case study. The Vorona study only goes as far as to suggest a link between the start of local schools and the accident rates of teenagers within two school districts. Comparing two adjacent towns with similar demographics, as well as the data on crash rates of drivers ages 16 to 18, provided by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Virginia Beach students began their day at 7:30 am, while students in Chesapeake began at 8:40 am.

Dr. Vorona found the accident rate for Virginia Beach students to be 65.4% per 1000. Chesapeake on the other hand, had only a 46.2% per 1000 driver accident rate, a 41% difference in the accident rates of teenage drivers involving a time difference of one hour and twenty minutes.

While neither study goes so far as to definitively link the daily start time of schools with accident rates of teenage drivers, but both studies suggest there is some link. The average teenager need approximately nine hours of sleep per night. The later start time of school, allows for more sleep and less accidents. Sleep depravation affects motor skills, and the ability to make critical judgments, both of which are abilities the teenage brain is still developing. A leading cause of death for teenagers, in the U.S. is car accidents, additional studies will be needed to support the determinations found in both studies. One must acknowledge the fact that a decrease of 41% in teenage automobile accident rates translates into the saving of not only property damages, but lives as well.