Nation's Leading Teen Driving Safety Experts Convene Town Hall Meeting for D.C.-Area Parents and Teens
Event at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Offers Families Resources and Guidelines to Help Keep Teens Safe Behind the Wheel
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 -- The nation's leading teen driving safety experts will convene a town hall meeting at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Md. this evening to address the issue of keeping teens safe when behind the wheel. The town hall meeting for parents and teens is hosted by AAA, the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), DaimlerChrysler, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the National Safety Council (NSC).
The panelists will discuss the risks teens face as new, inexperienced drivers and offer resources and guidelines for parents and teens to help keep teens safe behind the wheel.
"Chrysler Group is participating in this town hall with our safety partners because we are committed to making vehicles safer and we also are committed to improving safety through educational programs like Road Ready Teens," said Jason Vines, Vice President, Chrysler Group Communications. "When you consider the risks that teens face when they are behind the wheel, programs such as Road Ready Teens are one of the ways that we can help teens make better and safer driving decisions."
Road Ready Teens program is a research-based teen driving safety initiative based on the principles behind graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws. The program offers parents a step-by-step guide to gradually introduce teens to driving, as well as an innovative teen driving safety video game -- both of which are available free of charge at http://www.roadreadyteens.org/.
The town hall meeting was organized by DaimlerChrysler in response to a recent increase of crashes involving teen drivers, killing at least 17 people in the area since September. In Montgomery County alone, 10 people have died in eight collisions involving drivers under the age of 21 this year.
"Sadly, this problem is not unique to Montgomery County, but one that affects every county in the nation," said panelist Ellen Engleman Conners, Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). "The fact is, traffic crashes kill more teens than any other cause -- more than suicides, drug overdoses, or diseases."
According to 2003 statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, teen drivers (ages 16-20) were involved in more than 1.7 million vehicle crashes, injuring nearly 400,000 teens and killing nearly 5,000. Teens make up less than seven percent of all licensed drivers in the country, but they account for 14 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes.
Driver inexperience and lack of maturity behind the wheel are the primary causes of teen crashes. Risk factors for teens include speeding, not wearing seatbelts, and drinking and driving. More than a third of teen driver fatalities involve speeding, and 31 percent of teen driving deaths are alcohol related.
"Underage drinking kills more youth than all other illicit drugs combined and because the brain is not developed until someone is around 21 years old, alcohol should never be made available to those under 21," said Wendy Hamilton, National President, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). "And even though possession or purchase of alcohol by underage people is illegal in all 50 states, on a typical weekend, an average of one teen dies each hour in a vehicle crash and 45 percent of these crashes involve alcohol. Statistics show that inexperience and immaturity behind the wheel can have deadly consequences for teenagers. When you add alcohol to the mix, the consequences are often even more tragic."
Other risk factors include multiple passengers and nighttime driving. Research shows that teen drivers ages 16 and 17, driving with even one teen passenger are nearly 50 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than when driving alone. With two teen passengers in the vehicle, the risk almost doubles. With three or more teen passengers, it's nearly four times more likely that teens will be involved in a crash than if they were driving alone. The increased risk is primarily due to driver distractions.
Nighttime driving restrictions are also shown to reduce teen crashes: Research shows that 50 percent of teen fatalities occur after dark, even though most teen driving occurs during daylight hours. More than 75 percent of those nighttime crashes by 16- and 17-year-old drivers occur between 9 p.m. and midnight. Therefore, nighttime driving restrictions should begin several hours before midnight.
"The best way to minimize your teen's risk behind the wheel is by implementing a graduated driver licensing -- or GDL -- program in your home by setting house rules and sticking to them," said Chuck Hurley, Vice President, Transportation Safety Group, National Safety Council (NSC). "NSC's new Family Guide to Teen Driver Safety assists families in understanding and managing the journey their teens will travel from beginner to independent driver."
Graduated driver licensing laws are principles that gradually introduce teens to more challenging driving situations. While the majority of states have some form of GDL law, no state law has the entire slate of guidelines, which include a zero tolerance policy for alcohol and drug use, mandatory seat belt use for teens and their passengers, and requiring teens to obey all of the rules of the road, including never speeding. There are three basic levels to a GDL system: the Learner's Permit level, the Intermediate Driver level and the Full Driver level.
"Despite the fact that we have good laws on the books here in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, we have seen too many teen driving tragedies in the last few months -- tragedies that may have been preventable," said Lon Anderson, Mid-Atlantic Director of Public and Government Relations, AAA. "AAA has made strengthening graduated drivers licensing laws our number one legislative commitment -- both nationally and locally -- because we know that GDL works."
When enforced by parents, the principles of GDL have been proven to reduce teen crash rates by 33 percent.
"Maryland's Graduated Driver Licensing law has surely saved lives but it still has some serious gaps through which teenagers' lives are being needlessly lost. We can prevent deadly driving distractions and strengthen Maryland's GDL by adopting pending legislation to restrict teens from having teen passengers in the car and from talking on a cell phone during the provisional driving period," said Maryland State Delegate Bill Bronrott (District 16, Bethesda). "But, in order for our GDL to work, it takes parents and police taking an active role in drawing the line at home and on our roadways."
For more information about teen driving safety, visit: * http://www.roadreadyteens.org/ * http://www.aaamidatlantic.com/ * http://www.madd.org/ * http://www.nsc.org/ * http://www.ntsb.gov/
