Safe Teen Driving Blog

As the parent of a teenage driver, Police Chief Roger Boatner, of Lakeland, Florida worries when his daughter is behind the wheel. However, his worries are not with her own driving skills or with the locations she visits. He worries most about the many drivers he sees doing nearly everything but driving as they cruise down the street.

Those who spend even a few seconds changing a CD, answering the cell phone, or taking a bite of a sandwich can cause a serious accident. Other troopers agree with the seriousness of the problem of distracted driving. Larry Coggins of the Florida State Highway Patrol claims that in every crash there can be some type of driver error found.

Many studies have been done on the effects of cell phones and other distractions while driving. While exact numbers have varied, the basic results have been the same.

• Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute found that drivers who talk on cell phones are 4 times more likely to be involved in a serious crash.
• The National Highway Traffic Administration carried out a study, which found that more than 75% of crashes and 66% of near misses occurred when drivers were engaged in conversations on cell phones.
• The University of Utah carried out an experiment that resulted in the conclusion that drivers talking on cell phone were just as impaired as an intoxicated driver.
  

Results such as these have caused a few states to pass laws prohibiting all drivers from talking on cell phones while behind the wheel. Even more states have implemented similar laws, but focused them only on teenage drivers. Unfortunately, Florida is yet to have created one of these laws.

The Sheriff's Office in Polk County, Florida has decided that these messages are so important that they have placed them on their phone system as a hold message. Additionally, they remind drivers of the importance of wearing their seat belts.

The Polk Sheriff's Office handled 50 traffic deaths within their jurisdiction. Of these, officers believe that at least 14 lives would have been saved if the victims had been wearing a seat belt. To prevent more of these accidents from claiming the lives of young people, Florida has enacted a law allowing officers to pull cars over if passengers under the age of 18 years old are seen unrestrained.

Labels: cell.phone, florida, seat.belt, teen.driver

For the fifth year, the IndyCar Series has renewed its partnership with Driver's Edge, a nonprofit organization who works to educate teen drivers on road safety and good driving practices. The organization runs educational programs for drivers under the age of 21, all over the United States. The backing of the IndyCar Series allows the organization to keep the programs free of charge to interested young drivers.

Both the Driver's Edge program and the IndyCar Series stress safety as one of their important messages, making the partnership natural. By working with Driver's Edge, the League hopes to give back to the community by making a difference in the lives of these teen drivers. IndyCar events will display public service announcements about these programs to inform fans of the available opportunity. Sponsorships, such as those with Indy Racing, allow these programs to be available to everyone, even if they cannot afford the $450 average fee for a safe driving education program.

Over 30,000 drivers and their parents have participated in these free, half-day long programs. Teachers include professional race car drivers and driving instructors. The course includes follow up from the people at Driver's Edge to track the driving success of their former students. Throughout the course of the Driver's Edge program, students will receive instruction and advice on a variety of topics. They offer:

• Pre- and post-course testing to see how much knowledge has been gained.
• Class instruction and hands-on training in defensive driving techniques, such as skid control, panic braking, evasive lane changing, and braking skills.
• Informative sessions with local law enforcement officers, providing information on impaired driving and seatbelt awareness.
• Car maintenance training from the people at Firestone.
  

This year's events are planned for a variety of Indy Series event locations, including Chicago, Detroit, St.Petersburg, FL, Dallas / Ft.Worth TX, and many other locations. There are currently a total of 17 locations that will be hosting Driver's Edge events in 2007.

For more information about the Driver's Edge program, as well as registration information and schedules, visit www.driversedge.org.

Teenage drivers in Illinois may soon face even tighter restrictions on their driving privileges. On March 27th, the Illinois Senate passed Senate Bill 172, which was sponsored by Senator John Cullerton, a Democrat from Chicago. The intention of the Bill is to restrict the conditions under which newer drivers are on the road, in order to reduce the number of fatalities among teenage drivers.

The new laws would toughen the older version of restrictions placed on drivers within this age group. These changes would make the teenage driving laws and graduated license program in Illinois the strictest in the country. Changes to the old regulations would include:

• Decreasing the nighttime hours of the driving curfew, requiring teens to be off the roads by 10 p.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. on weekends.
• Further restrictions on who is permitted to be a passenger in a car with a teenage driver.
• An extended period for learners permits, triple the length of time of a current learners permit.
  

These laws have been well received within the Senate, passing with a 54-2 vote. Of the two who voted against the Bill, one claimed to not understand the package. The other opposed to the new laws claimed that the responsibility for these teenage drivers should be in the hands of their parents, not the state. The Bill will head to the State House of Representatives for their approval before becoming law.

Outside the State Legislature, Senator Jesse White was recognized for his contributions to reducing teenage driving fatalities by the National Highway Safety Administration. He received a Public Service Award for his work in establishing the Teen Driver Safety Task Force. With research from this project, Senator White's office drafted the Bill that was just passed by the Senate.

Sen. White received his award in front of 2500 people at the National Lifesavers Conference in Chicago. He stated that he was honored to have the recognition for his office in their work toward reducing the number of teen traffic deaths and injuries within the state. He hopes that the new Bill will further reduce the fatalities and deaths among young drivers.

Drawing on a tactic long used by parents to influence their teenager's actions, schools are now dangling the car keys in front of students as a motivator. The Winnebago school board in Illinois has decided to place a bit of extra responsibility on its sophomore students, letting their grades decide if they are eligible to take a school sponsored driver education program.

Following in the footsteps of other regulations within the district applying to sports and other activities, students must now maintain a 2.0 grade point average in order to participate in the school's driver education program. Placement in these classes is highly sought after, as they cost half of what instruction at a private driver's education course would.

This restriction adds to the ever-growing list of laws and regulations regarding teenage drivers, frustrating students a bit. However, the additional monitoring and responsibility will only lower the risks related to the youngest of drivers.

Some of the other laws, besides the new grade requirements, include:

• Cell phones may not be used while driving.
• Drivers may not have more than one unrelated passenger under the age of 20 in their vehicle within the first 6 months of being licensed.
• Teen drivers must be off the roads before 11 pm on weekdays and midnight on weekends.
  

All of these regulations have been put in place to reduce the accident rate among teenage drivers. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety studies show that the accident rate per mile for drivers under twenty years old is four times that of an experienced driver. The youngest of these drivers, at sixteen years old, are involved in twice the number of accidents as the eighteen and nineteen year old drivers.

The Winnebago school district has already passed this plan within their own district, however it is not finalized for next fall as of yet. Since the Illinois State Board of Education rules are more relaxed, they must apply for a waiver to tougher their own school's restrictions. Once this waiver is approved, the plan will start in the school year immediately following.

Create your own customized Teen Driving Contract online based on the core principles of the Driver Education Handbook for Parents and Florida's Graduated Licensing laws.