Attorney General Conway Announces Support of National Teen Driver Safety Week
Attorney General Jack Conway today announced his support for National Teen Driver Safety Week to be held October 19-25, 2008. National Teen Driver Safety Week, observed each year during the third week of October, is designed to educate teens and raise awareness about the tragedy of teen vehicle crashes and encourage youth to drive more safely. This year’s theme, “Passengers,” focuses on increasing passenger awareness of how they may contribute to driver distraction.
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“Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S. and in Kentucky. While teens represent only 6% of Kentucky drivers, they account for 19% of all people involved in injury collisions and 13% of those involved in fatal collisions in the state,” General Conway said.
Also troubling are the statistics on youth alcohol-related crashes. In 2007, 519 teenage drivers were involved in alcohol-related collisions resulting in 12 fatalities, half of which were the teenage driver. According to Kentucky State Police, 3,108 teen drivers between the ages of 16-19 were arrested last year for driving under the influence.
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“Working closely with victim’s advocacy groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, our office knows all too well the heartbreak behind these statistics,” said General Conway, who is also a member of the National Association of Attorneys General’s Youth Access to Alcohol Committee. This committee works to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors.
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There are several important facts regarding the incidence of teens involved in vehicle crashes. Driver error or speeding is the leading cause of teen driver crashes. Cell phones, texting, food/beverage consumption and loud music are also dangerous distractions.
“Youth drivers need to know that the phone call and texting can wait. There is nothing more important than getting from point A to point B safely,” General Conway said.
Kentucky has taken steps forward in protecting teen drivers through its graduated teen-licensing law and increasing the time young drivers must have adult supervision.
“I also applaud the Kentucky State Police ‘Drive to Stay Alive’ program for teen drivers. However, more needs to be done to ensure students are aware of the severity of a vehicle crash and the very real consequences to themselves, their passengers and the general public of operating a vehicle in an unsafe manner,” General Conway said.
Attorney General Conway now asks that the public join him to help keep our teen drivers and our roadways safe.
“We all- federal, state, local governments and the public- need to support efforts to effectively educate teens and families about ways to address increased safety measures for teen drivers. Now is the time to talk with your children and grandchildren to prevent future tragedies.”
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1 comment:
Greetings,
I saw your report on teen driving and the att. generals support. I thought I'd let you know about a national program that operates in Kentucky, I'm the National Program Manager living in Louisville. the program is called Street Survival.
Street Survival was formed in April 2002 by the BMW Car Club of America Foundation, a 501c3 organization. Street Survival® is built upon the premise that 'safe driving is learned by doing.' From the outset, Street Survival® has always been a "hands on" program and it is designed to go beyond the typical high school driver's education program. The program teaches students to avoid accidents by thinking and looking ahead. Street Survival® is unique in that it offers students instruction in their own cars so that they learn the limitations of their 'daily drivers' and that information is transferred immediately to what they drive everyday, whether it’s a new Accord, pick-up truck, 5 year old Minivan, or the hand-me –down 15 year old Volvo station wagon. If you haven’t, please check out our website at www.streetsurvival.org.
As a point of background, 2003 was the pilot year for Street Survival® and several successful schools were held around the country. In 2004, more than a dozen schools providing instruction for several hundred students were held.
The year 2005 had 18 successful schools across the country.
2006 saw even more schools, training even more teenagers to become safe, responsible drivers. Our goal that year was 40 schools and we hit 36. More than double our previous efforts. The Tire Rack signed on as our title sponsor in 2006 and has opened the doors to many more clubs and events. You can visit the Tire Rack at www.tirerack.com. The Sports Car Club of America is now facilitating schools under the Tire Rack Street Survival® banner. You can visit the SCCA at www.scca.org. We are discussing the program with additional car clubs such as the Porsche, Audi and Mercedes Benz Clubs. We know to expand this program as far as it can go we need to grow outside of just the BMW Club ranks.
We completed 56 schools in 2007 breaking our goal of 50. We have slated over 70 schools this year.
The schools are facilitated by chapters of the BMW Car Club of America and other car clubs where a trained instructor base can be utilized. The instructor to student ratio is quite low, often 2:1. They are held typically in a large parking lot, such as a football stadium or large mall. The schools are 1 day, typically from 8:00am to 4:00pm. The cost is $60. We average 25 students per school with our largest school holding 48 students every year for the last 3 years. There are usually 15-20 instructors in attendance, 5 -10 staff people and probably 20 parents and other adults.
The day is a mixture of classroom and in-car exercises with a coach in the car at all times with the student. The student is put though a collection of exercises based on real world scenarios. They work on skid control on a wet skid pad; go through a lane change / accident avoidance maneuvers; threshold breaking / ABS exercises; they drive a slalom course to learn about weight transfer. In the classroom they learn about proper seating position and hand positions, mirror placement, the concept of the contact patch of their tires, the theories of weight transfer, the use of long distance vision and situational awareness. We talk about the challenges of distractions to the driver, be it the radio / CD player or phones for talking or texting or just the simple cause of too many teens in the car. Where possible we stage a semi truck on site and park cars around it to simulate highway driving. We then have each student and all adults get into the cab and close the door to show how little the driver can see and how many of the cars are not visible to the driver. We also may explode an air bag to reinforce what they learn in class about hand placement on the steering wheel.
Most of us are aware of the carnage that occurs on American highways and good driver education will help reduce accidents. With your support and help, the goal of the Tire Rack Street Survival® program will help make our teenager’s safer drivers and our roads a safer place to be for all of us.
Thank you,
Bill Wade
National Program Manager
Tire Rack Street Survival®
bill.wade@streetsurvival.org
www.streetsurvival.org
502.649.4871
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