The number of fatal car crashes involving teen-agers in Hawaii has steadily declined over the past five years, a new government report said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report that between 2004-2008, 11,019 people died in the wrecks nationwide, with the teen drivers making up more than a third of the toll.

Fatal accidents with a 16- or 17-year-old at the wheel fell to 1,437 in 2008, from 2,230 four years earlier, the report released today said.

In Hawaii, the report said nine drivers between the ages of 16 to 17 died in 2004. There were two teen deaths in 2005, three in 2006, one in 2007 and two in 2008.

Increased seat belt usage and stricter licensing and driver education requirements are credited with reducing fatal car crashes involving teenagers by 36 percent.

While the adolescents’ fatal crashes have been declining since at least 1990, auto accidents remain the leading cause of death in the age group, the report said. For every mile on the road, teen drivers are four times more likely to have a wreck than older drivers, said Ruth Shults, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Seat-belt laws and training mandates are reducing the risk, she said.

"We’ve seen a pretty steady decline," Shults said. "But when teens first start to drive is still a very dangerous time for them."

Graduated driver licensing programs, now in all states in the U.S. except North Dakota, have been shown to cut the hazard for teens, Shults said. These programs extend the time during which teenagers must adhere to rules such as not driving at night and minimizing the number of passengers in the car, Shults said.

While the programs have reduced fatal crashes, parents remain the "most important influence," Shults said.