Wednesday, October 16, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Talk to your teen about the importance of driving safety
National Teen Driver
Safety Week is October 20-26,
and the U.S. Department of
Transportation9s National
Highway Traffic Safety
Administration is teaming
up with High Desert Driver
Education to help empower
parents to discuss the impor-
tance of driving safety with
their young drivers.
The week is a perfect time
to begin 4 and continue
4 this conversation, and to
remind parents not to hand
over the car keys until their
teen knows the rules of the
road.
Motor vehicle crashes are
the leading cause of death for
teens 15 to 18 years old in the
United States, ahead of all
other types of injury, disease,
and violence. In 2017, there
were 2,247 people killed in
crashes involving a teen driver
(15-18 years old), of which
755 deaths were the teen
driver 4 a 3% decrease from
2016. In fact, in 2017, there
were an estimated 93,000
teen drivers injured in motor
vehicle traffic crashes, and
an estimated 293,000 people
injured in crashes involving
a teen driver, accounting for
an estimated 11% of all those
injured that year.
<Because of their lack of
experience, teen drivers are a
potential danger to themselves
and to other drivers, which is
why it is so important that
parents take time to discuss
driving safety with their
teens,= said Tony Summers,
the driver education program
manager at the High Desert
Education Service District.
<Don9t be afraid to have
this conversation every day.
NHTSA offers parents and
caregivers helpful tips and
a framework to talk to their
teen drivers about risky driv-
ing behaviors that can lead to
fatal consequences.=
Because of their lack of
experience, teen drivers
are a potential danger to
themselves and to other
drivers, which is why it is
so important that parents
take time to discuss driving
safety with their teens.
— Tony Summers
Parents play an impor-
tant role in helping ensure
their teen drivers take smart
steps to stay safe on the road.
NHTSA gives parents tips on
how to talk about safe driving
behaviors with their teens, and
to address the most dangerous
and deadly driving behaviors
for teen drivers: alcohol, lack
of seat-belt use, distracted
driving, speeding, and driving
with passengers.
NHTSA9s website, www.
nhtsa.gov/road-safety/teen-
driving, has detailed informa-
tion and statistics on teen driv-
ing and outlines the basic rules
parents can use to help reduce
the risks for teen drivers:
Impaired Driving: All
teens are too young to legally
buy, possess, or consume
alcohol. However, nation-
ally in 2017, 15 percent of
teen drivers involved in fatal
crashes had alcohol in their
system. But alcohol isn9t the
only substance that can keep
your teen from driving safely:
In 2017, 6.5 percent of ado-
lescents 12 to 17 years old
were marijuana users. Like
other drugs, marijuana affects
a driver9s ability to react to
their surroundings. Driving is
a complex task, and marijuana
slows reaction time, affect-
ing a driver9s ability to drive
safely. Remind your teen that
driving under the influence of
any impairing substance 4
including illicit or prescrip-
tion drugs, or over-the-coun-
ter medication 4 could have
deadly consequences.
" Seat Belt Safety: Wearing
a seat belt is one of the sim-
plest ways for teens to stay
safe in a vehicle. Yet too
many teens aren9t buckling
up. In fact, there were 539
passengers killed in passenger
vehicles driven by teen driv-
ers, and more than half (60
percent) of those passengers
who died were NOT buck-
led up at the time of the fatal
crash. Even more troubling,
when the teen driver was
unbuckled, 87 percent of the
passengers killed were also
unbuckled. Remind your teen
that it9s important to buckle
up on every trip, every time,
no matter what 4 front seat
and back.
" Distracted Driving: Cell
phone use while driving is
more than just risky 4 it can
be deadly, and is outlawed in
47 states, Washington DC,
Year-round
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Puerto Rico, Guam, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands. Remind
your teen about the dangers
of texting and using a phone
while driving. Distracted
driving isn9t limited to cell
phone use; other passengers,
audio and climate controls
in the vehicle, and eating or
drinking while driving are all
examples of dangerous dis-
tractions for teen drivers. In
2017, among teen drivers of
passenger vehicles involved
in fatal crashes, 9% were
reported as distracted at the
time of the crash. Also remind
your teen that headphones are
not appropriate to wear while
driving a vehicle, as they can
distract a driver from hearing
sirens, horns, or other impor-
tant sounds.
" Speed Limits: Speeding
is a critical issue for all driv-
ers, especially for teens. In
2017, more than one-quarter
(27 percent) of all teen driv-
ers of passenger vehicles
involved in fatal crashes were
speeding at the time of the
crash, and males were more
likely to be involved in fatal
speeding-related crashes than
females. Remind your teen to
always drive within the speed
limit.
" Passengers: Passengers in
a teen9s car can lead to disas-
trous consequences. Research
shows that the risk of a fatal
crash goes up dramatically in
direct relation to the number
of passengers in a car. The
likelihood of teen drivers
engaging in risky behavior
triples when traveling with
multiple passengers.
Parents can help protect
their teen drivers by talking
with them about these risks.
Self-reported surveys show
that teens whose parents set
firm rules for driving typically
engage in less risky driving
behaviors and are involved in
fewer crashes.
Explaining the rules and
any other restrictions outlined
in Oregon9s graduated driver
licensing and the deadly con-
sequences of unsafe driving
practices can help encourage
teens to exhibit safe driving
behaviors.
<Teens will learn much of
this content in drivers9 edu-
cation classes, but it9s their
home environment that will
really help these lessons and
rules stick. We need parents
to set these rules before hand-
ing over the car keys,= Tony
Summers said. <We hope par-
ents will start the conversa-
tion about safe driving during
National Teen Driver Safety
Week, but then continue the
conversations 4 every day
throughout the year 4 to help
keep their teens safe behind
the wheel.=
For more information
about National Teen Driver
Safety Week and to learn safe
driving tips to share with your
teens, visit www.nhtsa.gov/
road-safety/teen-driving.
For information about
driver education visit the High
Desert Education Service
District9s driver education
page at www.hddrivered.org
or call 541-693-5698.
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