When Teen Drivers Multitask

NPR shots reports (January 1, 2014) that When Teen Drivers Multitask, They're Even Worse Than Adults. See full story here.

Should Britain make its driving test harder?

The British government wants to raise the driving age to 18 and impose a curfew on new drivers. But how does our test compare with other countries, such as South Africa, China and Pakistan? Click here for the October 11, 2013 article in the guardian.

Article on Teen Driving in Atlanta Parent this month

Alcohol, inexperience behind the wheel and cell phones make teenage drivers more susceptible to fatal crashes. But new laws and community efforts are trying to force teens to follow the rules of the road.

Click here to read more.

Safety advocates push for tougher national teen driver laws

Article in AJC today about teen driving posted here. Excerpt from the article:

Georgia currently allows 15-year-olds to get conditional learner permits; the STANDUP Act as proposed wouldn't allow anyone under 16 to get a permit.

Bob Dallas, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, said the state supports the STANDUP Act in general.

The GDL Kickback

The insurance industry wants teens off the road, period. But there's a potentially deadly payoff.


Read the article: AutoWeek - The GDL Kickback

Teens missing message on road texting risk

Many teens view texting while driving as less risky than drunken driving despite a sustained campaign against texting behind the wheel and research indicating it's as dangerous as drinking and driving, a new survey for State Farm insurance company finds.

Read the article: USA Today - Teens missing message on road texting risk

CNBC: Texting While Driving

Car Crashes, Travel Deaths, Prevented by Technology

Study Reveals High-Tech Safety Features Could Prevent or Lessen the Severity of Nearly Two Million Accidents a Year.

Read the article: ABC News: New Technology Successful in Reducing Severity of Car Crashes

Watch the VIDEO: ABC News - Highway Safety Exclusive

Is texting PSA too graphic?

Photo ©2009 MSNBC

A video about teens texting that was originally produced in Wales appeared on MSNBC's Today show September 1, 2009.

READ THE ARTICLE: MSNBC's Today Show

WATCH THE VIDEO: MSNBC's Today Show commentary

“The messages contained in the film are as relevant to the people of Tennessee as they are to the residents [of Wales],” he said on the department’s Web site. “Texting and driving can have tragic consequences, and the more this film is viewed, the better.”

Required viewing?

Appearing on TODAY Tuesday, noted ad executive Donny Deutsch said he believes the ad may be the most powerful ever — and agreed that it needs to be required viewing.

“I will show this to every kid I know, and I salute the police department,” Deutsch told TODAY’s Ann Curry. “I would really implore various local stations: Run this stuff, put this on the air. It will help.”

18 Months Jail for Mom that gave Teen alcohol in fatal crash

Cobb mom gets jail time in teen alcohol case - AJC

“I want her to think twice,” Reed said. “I want the community to think twice.”


Reed’s 17-year-old son Garrett died after police say he obtained alcohol from Whitfield’s step-son, Lyndon Winfree, on Jan. 23. In court Wednesday, Whitfield, 44, testified she purchased the alcohol that night, but didn’t know her step-son planned to give it to friends.

Newly Licensed on CNN

Tagging teen drivers for their protection - CNN.com

Young Adult Driver Task Team member Susan Kessler's program, "Caution--Newly Licensed," was featured on CNN this morning.

Kessler has developed signs for teens with learner permits and first-year licenses. They are attached magnetically to the car's sheet metal and display the words "Caution Newly Licensed."

It's not hard to imagine the signs being a nightmare to teens obsessed with what their peers think. But, Kessler, a Kennesaw, Georgia, mother of six, says the real horror is out on the highway: thousands of young people are killed and injured in traffics every year.
More than 15,000 of people have ordered the signs since Kessler and a group of other moms introduced them four years ago

Virginia Tech cell phone research on driving distraction

New data from Virginia Tech Transportation Institute provides insight into cell phone use and driving distraction

Combined, these studies continuously observed drivers for more than 6 million miles of driving. VTTI’s studies that included light vehicle drivers and truck drivers, manual manipulation of phones such as dialing and texting of the cell phone lead to a substantial increase in the risk of being involved in a safety-critical event such as a crash or near-crash. However, talking or listening increased risk much less for light vehicles and not at all for trucks. Text messaging on a cell phone was associated with the highest risk of all cell phone related tasks.

$4 million at stake over Georgia's seat belt law

Excerpt from the Augusta Chronicle - READ THE FULL STORY HERE

"The economy might give Georgia legislators the extra push they need to require adults in pickups to wear seat belts -- changing the law would instantly give the state about $4 million in federal highway funds."

"I don't necessarily think we ought to do it for the federal money," Governor Perdue said. "But the kids I'm concerned about are those that are in modern-day pickups, when they get a crowd of friends in there, and they're fooling around."

Study: 1 in 25 Teens Drive Without a License

A study released in the November issue of Pediatrics and conducted by Center researchers focuses on an often-overlooked group of teen drivers: those without a license. The 2006 National Young Driver Survey (NYDS) of more than 5,500 teens across the country revealed that about 6 percent of students in grades 9 through 11 reported driving unsupervised without a license. However, according to the national fatality data, a full 20 percent of 14- to 18-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2006 did not have a license. This means unlicensed teens are significantly over-represented in fatal crashes.

Read more about the study at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and see the news article at U.S. News


Find out who the teens are in Pediatrics.

The Five Most Dangerous Holidays for Drivers

These five are the most dangerous holidays to be on the road, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's report on motor vehicle deaths over three- or four-day holiday periods from 2001 to 2006, as well as the percentage of fatal crashes caused by intoxication and the AAA-estimated number of cars on the road for each holiday period.

READ THE TOP FIVE LIST, AND MORE AT YAHOO NEWS HERE.

NC Girl's Death Not Just a Statistic

Shannon Nicole Adkins had devoted herself to doing something about the wave of teen crash fatalities in her North Carolina county.


She studied teen highway deaths as her senior project at Clayton High School before graduating last spring. She changed her major at Wayne Community College from dental hygiene to criminal justice, says her aunt, Karmela Adkins.

Then on Saturday night she was killed in a head-on collision just a few blocks from her home, the victim of an alleged drunken driver.
 
Shannon Nicole Adkins' death is more than one family's tragedy. She's the 27th teen to die in a crash in Johnston County since the start of 2006, more than in any of the state's other 99 counties.
 

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT USAToday.com

Prepare to Get Belted by Ford

Recently, Ford Motor Company showed two advanced prototypes that will likely see production by 2010: inflatable safety belts and four-point safety belts.


READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT EDMUNDS.COM HERE.

Ford "MyKey" Rolls Out in 2010

READ THE FULL STORY on Ford's website here.

New features programmed into the ignition key programming will limit top speed and control the volume of the stereo system, as well as remind the driver to fasten the seatbelt.

Naturally, teens aren't amused by the coming MyKey feature; A Ford survey found that 67 percent of teen drivers "don't like" the idea at all. When asked to factor in the possibility that MyKey might give them more chances to drive, the "hate it" figure drops to 36 percent, according to Ford's survey.

Drivers Ignoring Cell Phone Bans

article

Reader's Digest Special Report: The Dangers of Teen Driving

More than 5,000 teenagers die in car accidents every year. “If we saw these numbers coming back from a war zone, it would be on the front page every day,” says Vincent Leibell, a state senator from New York, where some 200 teens died in crashes in 2006.

The numbers aren't budging. Fatalities did drop from the mid-'70s through the early '90s, mainly because of tougher seat belt and drunk driving laws. But since then, the statistics have remained stubbornly high, despite improved safety features in cars.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Find out what the IIHS used as ranking for the study here.

Good. Better. Best...How did Georgia rank?
Find out what IIHS determined here.