Safe Teen Driving Blog

AAA of Michigan and the Michigan Sheriffs' Association have brought a great program to 27 counties in the state aimed at risky teenage drivers. This program, called STOPPED, or Sheriffs Telling Our Parents & Promoting Educated Drivers, was created in order to help prevent many of the fatal accidents that young drivers are at a high risk for being involved in. The goal of the program is to address reckless behind-the-wheel behavior by involving parents, as well as law enforcement, in the ongoing process of learning to drive in Michigan.

Many teens feel that once they pass drivers' education and receive their permit, that they are declared safe drivers. This certainly isn't the case, and is proven year after year as fatalities involving teenage drivers and passengers increase across the country. What this program does is help avoid these tragedies by catching risky behavior before it gets out of hand. Parents who do not ride with their children while they are driving may not get a chance to see if there are any risky behaviors going on in the vehicle, such as having a large number of passengers. This is where the STOPPED program comes into play.

Vehicles enrolled in the free and voluntary program are registered in a database. If a driver under the age of 21 is pulled over in that vehicle, for any reason, a completed notification card is sent home to the parents. Information such as why they were pulled over, where they were, and how many passengers were in the vehicle are all relayed to the parents of the new driver. This allows the parents to address these issues immediately, in an effort to reduce any further risk-taking behavior while driving.

The pilot program started in March of 2005, with just seven counties statewide participating. With the recent addition of 20 more counties in the State of Michigan, it is quickly becoming a success. Though the program is voluntary, many parents are finding this a great addition to the other safety precautions they have taken in making sure their children are safe on the road. Now if only other states would follow the lead of Michigan, and do their part to help cut risky driving behavior in teens.

The University of Florida will be hosting nationally recognized experts on teen driving on Monday November 20th.

Kenneth Beck, a professor of public and community health at the University of Maryland-College Park and Bruce Simons-Morton, chief of the Prevention Research Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development will present their latest findings on adolescent driving behavior and programs that could help to prevent motor vehicle accidents from occurring.

Simons-Morton will describe ways to reduce the risks faced by young, novice drivers.

Beck will discuss parental monitoring and supervision of teen driving and how his research indicates that many parents are unaware of the risk-taking of their teenage children.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 20
Room 209, Emerson Alumni Hall
University of Florida

Contact: Michele Dye, 352-392-0578, Ext. 1280

Lowest Price Traffic School Provides DMV approved online driver education courses required to obtain a Florida learners permit designed for both teens and their parents.

Most teens have heard from their parents that driving is a big responsibility and that we have to earn it. This comes with a lot of eye rolling on our parts and impatience at getting those car keys in our hand. Well, the fact of the matter is, our parents have a point. Fatal car accidents are the number one killer for teenagers and other young drivers under 25 years of age.

As teenagers, it is important to ask ourselves what have we as done exactly to earn the driving privilege we feel we are owed? Are we paying the gas, insurance, and car payment that enable us to drive? Most teens are not doing any of those things. We perhaps will automatically assume that we will get driving privileges the moment we get our driver's permit.

For us teenagers, a sure-fire way to prove that we can handle the responsibility of driving is by taking the "Road Ready Teens" driving program that is presented by DaimlerChrysler. Let's face it - teens as a whole are not proving to the adults that they are ready for the road. Young drivers are inexperienced and have a high rate of fatal car crashes.

This program has a number of aspects that are actually quite interesting and informative. As teens, we can learn many things to help us become better drivers, keep the roads safe and our parents happy.

There are a few driving schools that offer this type of program, but this video game is the first of its kind. It will simulate road risks you may encounter, and test you to figure out how you would handle your car. For instance, it may simulate a blown tire to see if your first reaction is to swerve (not good), or to calmly guide your vehicle to the side of the road.

Trust me; you don't want to learn these driving tips by experience, so playing the video game is a good idea. You can even email your friends and issue challenges to try to beat your score, which puts the fun back into learning to drive.

As teens, we think we know it all, but we don't. Based on the number of fatal accidents caused by teenage drivers each year, we don't know some things - like how to drive safely. In "Driving Tips for Teens," a video presentation that is offered by Allstate Foundation and its partners, there are some startling statistics. The one statistic about teens being 400% more likely to die in a car crash than someone who is in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties should really put a damper on your enthusiasm to go joy-riding with some friends after school.

Luckily, there are a few things we can do to help avoid being a statistic. We've all heard the importance of avoiding aggressive drivers and getting out of their way, or defensive driving. We also know that we should buckle our seat belts, keep our hands on the wheel (at all times!), and not talk on cell phones, eat or drink while driving. However, many teens are still doing this. It is also very important to mind the speed limit at all times - they really are there for a reason!

One of the most important things for all drivers to remember is to never drink and drive. Drinking impairs our ability to think straight, and for a teenager or other young, experienced driver, this can spell disaster. Distraction and a reduced ability to react are recipes for a fatal accident. This is another reason why it is never recommended to drive while you’re angry. When your emotions are so strong, your mind is distracted.

The site also mentions a driving program called TeenSmart. It helps parents of teen drivers work with their kids in meeting all the state driver's licensing requirements without the heated discussions and arguments. There is also cool video and computer based training sessions that teenagers can take that puts us through the paces of what we would likely encounter on the roads. This is just another great tool to help teenagers get experience, increase their skills, and gain additional driving privileges - especially while they are practicing for their driver's license test.

We all know that fatal accidents involving teenage drivers is becoming a problem, but do we know exactly how much of a problem? It's easy to ignore statistics, especially when we don't know each individual that became a part of that statistic.

When fatal accidents happen in our community, and when we start attending the funerals of teenagers that we went to school with, then we start to see the problem. We should not be waiting until someone we know is killed to pay attention to the risk we teenage drivers pose to ourselves.

We could be the next statistic if we don't pay attention NOW.

Here are some startling statistics offered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA. Remember, each of these numbers could have been someone you know: a close friend, classmate, sister, or brother.

• More than 68,000 teenagers have died in car accidents in the last ten years. Even scarier is that two thirds of those killed were teenage boys.
  
• In America, car accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers. It seems so senseless, considering that a fatal accident is more easily prevented than cancer, suicide, murder, and other ways we teenagers can die.
  
• The fatality rate for teenage drivers is about four times higher than the rate for drivers that are 25 years and older. This is the reason it is clearly a matter of experience when it comes to the problem of fatal teenage accidents. Inexperienced drivers are at a higher risk.
  
• In 2001, almost 7,600 teenagers were involved in a fatal crash, 5,300 of those were killed, and two thirds of those killed were not wearing their seatbelt. If it’s not the law in your state to wear a safety belt, do it anyway!
  
• Finally, a staggering 65% of teenage passengers killed in car crashes, died while another teenager was driving.

One thing is clear: if you are a teenage driver, you are at a high risk of killing yourself, or someone you know, each time you get behind the wheel. Take the time to learn your vehicle, the rules of the road, and avoid carrying passengers until you can be sure you and your friends won't become one of the statistics listed above.