Teen Driving Safety Call to Action

Earlier today I had an opportunity to visit Maryland’s Severna Park High School and speak with members of the school’s SADD chapter.  They were an impressive group and it was encouraging to hear them talk about their efforts to keep their friends and classmates safe on our roads. 

Groups like this are truly making a difference.  New data I announced during my visit shows that in 2006, there were two and half million injuries on our highways, down 4.5 percent from 2005.

And the number of teen driver injuries also dropped to 416,000 in 2005.  But while those figures are encouraging, it’s still a travesty to see almost half a million teenagers getting injured on our roads.  That’s too many broken bones, scarred faces and wounded bodies for any of us to declare victory. 

Today, teen injuries make up more than 16 percent of the total number of injuries,   even though teenagers represent just 8 percent of the driving public.  And even more sobering,   teens are dying on our highways at more than twice the rate of the overall driving public.

In the test of life, teenage drivers are failing at twice the rate of the rest of us.     That’s a safety grade none of us should be willing to accept.

That is why I announced the launch of a new nationwide competition to develop advertising and educational materials with a fresh focus to encourage teenagers to drive safely.  We’re calling on the one group in America that actually understands how to talk to teenagers and knows how to get them to do something different: other teenagers.

With the help of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the winning message will be broadly distributed to where it can do the most good.  As I told Severna Park’s students, we want give teenagers the tools and the voice they need to help their classmates, their friends, and yes even their rivals at Broadneck High School be safer and healthier on our roads.

And I’m asking each of you out there in the blogosphere to help get the word out about this competition.  If you know some creative teenagers who might want a chance to develop the next generation of teen driver safety materials, encourage them to visit www.nhtsa.gov and participate.

Thanks for your help, and let me know your thoughts and suggestions for how we can keep our roads and highways safe for our youngest drivers.

-Secretary Peters

Comments

[Renato Rodic]

I will do what I can and what is in my power to spread the word about this competition. If each one of us did one thing today - I am sure we could spread the word about this event and in general teen drive safety.
Anyone else wants to join me ?
-Renato

[Vern Lyght]

Re; Teenage Driving Safety Call to Action. Regional adults and taxpayers don't really mean what they say when they say, "we want to give teenagers the tools and the voice they need to help their classmates, their friends, and yes, even their rivals at Broadneck High School be safer and healthier on our roads". If we want safe drivers, we must give less lip and pay the cost to provide them with quality Driver's Education.

I'm a 25+ year resident of Montgomery County MD. The driver's education curriculum and the driving facilities and overall driver's program provided by Montgomery County and all of the adjacent jurisdictions pale when compared to that through which I matriculated when I was in High School. I attended Detroit's Mackenzie High School, located on the NW side of the city, which had a program that was staffed and funded by the "Bd of Ed". Driver's Ed lasted one school year, which consisted of 1/2 year of classroom study and 1/2 year of actual driving out on the Driver's Range. (Mackenzie High had a well laid out street course on school property and was equipped with "compact" cars.)

Youth attending school in the Greater Washington Metro. Area don't have in-house driver's training programs, but attend an assortment of rag-tag, poorly regulated and monitored, private Driver's Schools and "academys". My limited experience (5 kids)reflected that despite their attendence at these institutes, I didn't have the confidence that my kids or those from the local neigborhood, had sufficient "road time". I found it necessary to train each of my young adults further myself. Maybe 40 - 80 hours.)

I suggest that we stop "blaming" the youth and go back to the old landmark; back to the tried and true methods which were used to train us. We need to "pay the cost to be the boss"and develop quality driver's ed. programs and/or get home early and provide our kids with the additional training that they need.

Lastly, parents! Show some restraint and intelligence by not giving "rookie" drivers, high performance cars, e.g., BMWs, Mustangs, sports cars, etc. The neophytes don't have the experience or knowledge needed to control these type cars. As the comercial goes, "you can pay now, (before they tear something up)or pay later, (after they've wrecked the car and injured or killed themselve).