Safe Teen Driving Blog

Teens learn to drive by experience. However, many of the things that happen behind the wheel cannot be prepared for under normal circumstances. Reactions to blown tires, icy roads, and collisions are a few of the things that teen drivers do not know how control. Enter CAT Training.

CAT Training, otherwise known as Collision Avoidance Training, it offered many places nationwide. No place is it more needed, however, than at a local sports complex in D'Iberville, Mississippi. In this state, teens are allowed to be licensed at age 15, and without passing a driver's education course no less. With the deaths of 26 young people in recent years, the time felt right to bring in such a program as CAT Training.

Here, in Harrison County, CAT training was given a trial run, and will soon be offered to the public for a nominal fee. The testing group included four school resource officers who will become the course teachers. Students selected by the officers also tested the course, which is said to provide experience that normally takes five to seven years of driving experience to gain.

This program is the first of its' kind in Mississippi, and was made possible by the Partners for Highway Safety Foundation. After their son died at age 17 in an auto vehicle crash on Mother's Day weekend 1992, Paul and Ann Burris created the Partners for Highway Safety Foundation in an effort to educate teen drivers of the dangers of risky driving.

National studies show that more than 70% of crashes that involve teen drivers or passengers are avoidable. Inexperience is listed as a factor more important than the abuse of drugs or alcohol in this statistic.

Future dates that the course will be held, as well as costs to attend, have not yet been determined. However, students interested can contact Harrison County officials for information, and they will be notified as soon as the course is open to the general public.

It has been said time and again, that inexperience is the number one reason teen drivers and their passengers are at risk of injury or death as a result of car accidents. A combination of immaturity, inexperience, and indifference all add to the problem. Teen drivers haven't had the opportunity to learn which distractions are dangerous when behind the wheel, and the consequences of letting those get in the way of safe driving.

When the community understands why teen drivers act the way they do behind the wheel, educating them becomes a whole lot more productive. Therefore, studies are done nationwide to determine the safe and risky habits of teen drivers and their passengers.

One such study, sponsored by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Company, asked teens what actions performed during driving were unsafe. You might be surprised by some of their answers.

According to the National Teen Driver Survey, which gathered scientific data on more than 5,600 high school students, teens reported seeing the following distractions taking place at least some of the time:

• 93% said they see peers riding with teenage driver, who are often singing, bouncing in their seat or acting wild.
• 92% reported seeing teen drivers speeding.
• 85% reported loud music from cars of teen drivers.
• 79% said they see teens sing and even dance while driving.
• 76% said they see teens drive while struggling with negative emotions, such as failing grades or relationships.
• 53% said they see teens using hand held games and listening devices or sending text messages while driving.
• 38% said they have seen teens drive after smoking marijuana.
  

With distractions such as singing, dancing, or dealing with life's problems, it's easy to see why auto accidents are the leading cause of deaths for teen drivers. We all know how hard it is to drive while just changing the radio station, let alone holding and pushing buttons on a cell phone or mp3 player. Teen drivers need to know these distractions can be deadly, and hopefully this study combined with quality driver education classes will bring this issue to light.

You can view a more exhaustive list and the rest of the National Teen Driver Survey results on the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia website.

I just watched a video on Drivers Ed Direct, courtesy of Geico, that shows teens driving with hidden cameras and no scripts. As a teen, I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm sure a few parents will be when they see it.

The video follows four teens over the period of a few days, as they prepare for their homecoming game and prom. They're interviewed candidly about their views on teen driving, wearing seatbelts, and speeding. The teens driving history ranges from 1 to 24 months of behind the wheel experience, and it is quite obvious that most states need graduated licensing laws, which make teens put more hours behind the wheel before being licensed.

All but one of these teens claim to be decent drivers, and while all voice concern over the lives of themselves and their passengers, their actions do not back up their words.

• Jesse admitted that at intersections, she will only "roll through" if there are no other cars. Hidden cameras caught her failing to stop at 5 stop signs during the same trip across town.


• Hidden cameras caught all teens either talking on their cell phone, high-fiving their back seat passengers, looking back at passengers, or gesturing to the point of having both hands off the wheel.


• One driver admitted she did not have a special policy about passengers wearing seat belts, and in fact, a hidden camera showed her driving around with her passenger unbelted.


• One driver admitted some of his friends did not want to ride with him. A hidden camera showed another driver's passenger getting freaked out by the driver's risky behavior (speeding).


• Both male drivers admitted to being aggressive drivers and engaging in road rage behaviors.

The video, which can be found on www.driverseddirect.com, ends with some scary statistics.

• 2/3 of teen passenger deaths occur while a teen is driving


• more than 1/3 of teen crashes are speed-related (2,150 each year)


• 74,000 young people die or are injured each year by not wearing a seat belt


• during their 1st year of driving, 1 out of 5 16-year-olds will have an accident


• there were 1,825,000 young people in accidents last year - 5,900 of them died

Parents beware. When your teen tells you he or she is a good driver, put your faith in them, but do frequent ride-alongs with them to evaluate their ongoing progress. Teens can always learn more about safe driving and the rules of the road with this online DMV test that contains hundreds of questions and answers from the Driver's License manuals.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney gave a gift to Marion Emslie earlier this month, just before leaving office. Emslie's daughter, Talia, was killed when she was 15, while she was a passenger in a car that ended up in a high-speed chase. Local government was uninterested in discussing factors that led to Talia's death, and it became something that wasn't talked about. However, Talia's mom continued to fight on her behalf for stronger penalties for teen drivers who engage in risky behavior behind the wheel.

Emslie noted in a news article that come prom time, schools talk to their students about driver education 101 topics such as the dangers of drinking and driving, and about the importance of wearing a seatbelt, but the make no mention of speeding. Though Massachusetts enacted graduated licensing laws in 1998, Emslie felt more enforcement and education was needed to save lives.

The bill signed by Romney requires teen drivers with a learners permit to log more hours behind the wheel, and adds stiffer penalties for reckless driving, including speeding and drag racing. Emslie links speeding with the number one cause of teen deaths in auto accidents. Among the penalties outlined in the new legislation include: a 90-day permit suspension for speeders, a $50 fine, and an additional fine of $10 for every mile the teen driver is over the speed limit. These hefty fines will certainly make teens think twice before driving recklessly. In addition, if the teen driver is caught a second time, they would face suspension for one year, as well as an additional fine.

Emslie is not sure yet if the bill will save lives, though she is positive it will have an impact on how teen drive. She is also no doubt happy that she has been able to get the government to finally accept that more needed to be done to protect Massachusetts' teen drivers. For Thalia, the laws come a little too late, though her peers now have a better chance at survival.