Parents Regret not Monitoring Teen Drivers

Research from The Allstate Foundation shows nearly half of parents express regret about not monitoring their teen driver after they get a license, and more than two-thirds wish they spent more time practicing driving with their teen in high-risk situations. To help educate parents on driving risks, The Allstate Foundation is helping the National Safety Councillaunch Drive it Home, a new program offering specially created resources to help parents keep their teens safer on the road.

Drive it Home, created by parents for parents, is specifically targeted at parents after their teen gets a driver's license; that is one of the deadliest years in a person's life. Drive it Home uses a variety of video and graphic styles, including humor to capture the attention of parents, educate them on the real dangers facing their teens and help them provide ongoing coaching tips for recently licensed teen drivers. 

"We know from our research that parents are the No.1 source of information for teen drivers, yet 40 percent don't know car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens," said Vicky Dinges , vice president of corporate social responsibility at Allstate. "Drive it Home can help protect teen drivers, educate parents on the crucial role they play in the driving process, and help ensure our sons and daughters return home each and every night."

Additional findings from The Allstate Foundation's research include:

• Parents don't understand the most deadly risks to their teen driver. Research shows that inexperience is the No. 1 cause of teen crashes, but 74 percent of parents inaccurately believe that risk-taking is the leading cause.
• Despite the fact that nine in 10 parents say it's very important for teens to learn to manage night driving and driving with passengers, one in three parents admit they have not adequately covered these items with their teen.
• Nearly 30 percent of parents are not setting rules around some of the most dangerous behaviors including nighttime driving and passengers in the car. Many parents also don't require their teen to get permission before driving somewhere.
• Sixty-four percent of parents are actively looking for resources to help manage their teens' driving experience.

"Parents are looking for information that can help them manage their teens' driving experience and need additional tools that take a variety of non-traditional approaches to capture their attention," said Janet Froetscher , chief executive officer at the National Safety Council. "The National Safety Council researched the behaviors and messages that appealed most with parents and used it to inform the Drive it Home program. We know different parents respond to different kinds of messages. One technique we use is humor, for instance.  While this is an extremely serious issue, we know that comedy can appeal to everyone and we were able to weave important tips, tools and statistics into the content for the program."

Tips for Parents.  The Allstate Foundation and National Safety Council urge parents to take these simple steps with their teen driver:

• Drive at least 30 minutes each week with a newly licensed teen.
• Practice specific skills together and provide teens with feedback in the following critical areas:
  • Scanning the road ahead to recognize and respond to hazards.
  • Controlling speed, stopping, turning and following distance.
  • Judging the gap between vehicles in traffic – such as exiting parking lots and left-hand turns.
  • Managing the highest risks, such as night driving and driving with young passengers.

Parents looking for practice tips they can use with their teen driver can sign up on the Drive it Home website (www.driveithome.org) for weekly driving practice lessons delivered to them via email.

Additionally, as a part of the program, Drive it Home is coming to cities across the country in a series of shows featuring Second City Communications. The shows take a comedic approach to the topic of teen safe driving and give local parents the chance to win a free Chevy Cruze and gas cards.  To get additional information on the dates of the tour, visitwww.driveithome.org.

The Drive it Home Show is coming to the following cities:

Greenville, South Carolina	East Islip, New York
Sacramento, California	Middletown, New Jersey
Virginia Beach, Virginia	Seattle, Washington
Phoenix, Arizona	Plano, Texas
Fort Myers, Florida	Nashville, Tennessee
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	Rockford, Illinois
Grand Rapids, Michigan	Colorado Springs, Colorado

Funding for Drive it Home was provided by: the National Safety Council, The Allstate Foundation, General Motors Foundation, AT&T Foundation, Toyota Foundation.

What Works in Teen Driver Safety

Grants Available for High Schools to Implement these Effective Strategies
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. Sept. 30, 2011 - According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic crashes remain the leading cause of death for teens in the United States. For seven years teens themselves, in partnership with their teachers and communities, have been working to change that staggering statistic through a program called Project Ignition.

Funded by State Farm® and coordinated by the National Youth Leadership Council®, Project Ignition helps students, teachers and communities address teen driver safety through service-learning. Grant applications are now being accepted so that more high schools can support their students in designing and leading awareness and engagement campaigns. Project Ignition is seeking applications by November 15, which utilize strategies students have found to be effective in motivating peers to change their driving behaviors:

1. Experiences like all-school assemblies or mock crashes can and do motivate, but the impact is intensified when the experience is discussed among peers and merged with classroom curriculum. Students examine what they experienced, what it meant to them, and what they want to do about it. "In physics class a state highway patrolman explained the role of physics in car crashes and I truly realized the extent of the damage my decisions behind the wheel can create," said Shawn Smith, a Project Ignition student at Ridgemont High School, in Ridgeway, Ohio. Smith also now recognizes how physics concepts apply in the world.

 2. Educating parents about the importance of their role in teen driver safety is critical and many Project Ignition schools have done that effectively. According to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, teen drivers whose parents are highly supportive and involved, set rules and monitor driving behavior have half the crash risk as parents who are less involved. Former Project Ignition student, Taylor Mock, from Rushville Consolidated High School in Rushville, Ind. confirms the research, "I know exactly what the driving rules are in my house and what would happen if I didn't follow them, so I always follow them. Parents need to know that opening the lines of communication, setting rules, and being a positive example really does change their teen's perspective on driving safely."

3.Awareness activities like posters or buttons are most effective when combined with proven prevention strategies like advocacy to change or enforce laws. These are the types of classroom-based learning activities that students at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley High School in Gibson City, Ill. have participated in to advocate for  Illinois' stronger graduated drivers licensing laws, cellular phone ban in school zones and road construction areas and state-wide texting ban. "All of that legislation was instrumental in changing the driving behaviors of my peers. And, as students, it was a tremendous experience to help establish new laws that promote safer roadways in the State of Illinois and see first-hand that teens really can and do make a difference," said Joel Hood, a Project Ignition student there.

4. Indentifying and shaping normative behaviors in their communities is another effective strategy students have used to persuade their peers. Project Ignition students help their peers understand that most people do the right thing. Jaylea Falk, a student at Eureka High School in Eureka, Calif. said, "We have used kidsdata.org in California to show that most teens are not actually drinking and driving like most tend to think. Getting the real facts helps students further commit to doing the right thing." Project Ignition helps teens understand that most teens wear their seatbelt, most teens do not speed, most don't text while driving and this approach has proven to be powerful.


"Teens are the new generation with a strong voice. The more we continue to speak out about this issue the more people, young and old, will listen. We do have an impact on all ages," said Mock. Join in the effort to address teen driver safety through service-learning by visiting www.sfprojectignition.com for eligibility information, the application and tools to create a high-quality proposal. Twenty-five grants of $2,000 each will be given. For more information, contact Melissa Mitchell, Project Ignition National Program Coordinator at mmitchell@nylc.org or 1-888-856-7026. Applications are due November 15, 2011.