A total of 240 16- and 17-year-olds died on U.S. roadways in the first six months of 2012, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. That’s 19 percent higher than it was for the same period the previous year. If the stats hold up throughout the rest of 2012, it’ll mark the second straight year that traffic-related teen fatalities have increased. Oddly, the improving economy may be contributing to the higher death rate. For most of the early part of the century, the teen mortality rate was dropping year after year—a time when times were tough financially: Jobs and gas money were more difficult to come by, so youth tended to stay home more. When the economy improves, more teens have jobs, spending money and excuses to get out of the house. More teens on the roadways means more accidents. (USA Today)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.