Home>Traffic Safety and Driving Courses -- Teen Drivers -- Part 2
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| Interview with DrDriving about Teenagers |
 Date: Fri, 8
Sep 2000 16:03:41 -1000 Subject: Re: Question on Road Rage Hi Lindsay Reinsmith. Here are our answers to your questions for the road > 1. If road rage is such a consistent problem, then why does it keep occurring at an alarming rate? Road rage simmers below the surface for most drivers. This emotional state This simmering road rage shows itself in many ways if you care to observe We recommend you keep a Driving Diary. You can take notes at the end of
First, teenagers should know that when they are in a moving car driven by Second, teenagers should know that they are responsible for their own Third, teenagers should know that they are entrusted with adult Fourth, teenagers should know that they need to sharpen their We have such an analysis in our congressional testimony. We also have charts that can help you train your traffic emotions. We have both of these in our new book which we highly recommend to > 3. Have you yourself ever been in a bad road rage situation? Leon's story: Today I would never honk my horn that way, since I know the driver's prime Aloha! |
| Not Old Enough To Drive |
Dear Dr. Driving, I am doing a paper called Not Old Enough To Drive. I talk about why you should be 19 before you can drive. I have found other stats showing that the older the driver the less they are involved in an accident. I guess this is true because they are matured more. If you don't mind i would like your thoughts on what you think of kids waiting till there 19. Maybe if you could help back me up with your opinion or stats it would make my paper sound better. I think 19 maybe a little old but it just gives the kids more time to mature and practice with their parents. Sincerely, Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 13:17:09 -1000 I think you need to be balanced in your argument. This means discussing both sides of the issue. Also, you need to answer the concerns of people who complain about your solution for several reasons (and you need to answer these reasons): 1) Sometimes teenagers between 15 to 19 want to drive for fun, but sometimes they need to do it for work or school. Is it fair for you to deny them this if they can prove they're safe and competent drivers? 2) The current statistics of higher fatality rates for teen drivers may not be the same if they had more training than what they're getting now. Also, different if they do graduated licensing, which requires longer learning periods. 3) Even if the majority of teen drivers, say 80% aren't ready to be drivers, the other 20% are. How are you going to deal with them--just forget about them and deny their rights? As DrDriving, my recommendation is for Lifelong Driver Education K-12 with a driver education curriculum suitable for each age group, then Graduate Licensing at age 15 (and the graduated part can extend 2 years before full licensing privileges are earned), and then participation in QDCs or Quality Driving Circles for continued self-improvement as a driver. I discuss this in the congressional testimony I gave. Take care. |
From B@aol.com
| Risk Taking Teen Driver |
 From K@aol.com I did a search on a subject that I am trying to get a statistic on and came up with Dr. Driving. Maybe you can help me? My 25 yo niece was in a one-car rollover accident and was not injured (well, slightly bruised). I told her that the chances were probably that she should have been killed. She was in a VW Jetta (about a 1997). She was driving 70 mph down a highway listening to the radio (loudly, I'm sure) and wasn't wearing her seatbelt. She realized she was over the line and over-corrected, resulting in her flipping her car over the median, across the two lanes of oncoming traffic and into a ditch on the other side, landing right-side up. She was then sitting in the back seat. What are the chances that someone survives this type of accident? Thank you for your time and, if you can't answer the question, I completely understand. D. Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 13:28:49 -1000 Well D., as you told it, the chances of surviving or avoiding serious injuries when your car flips over in front of oncoming traffic, etc., is indeed small, small. In fact I would call it a miracle, and therefore it's a wake up call for this woman straight from heaven. Wearing seatbelts is legal and logical and prudent. Not wearing seat belts is illegal, illogical, and foolish. Further, it's a sign of some more serious driving problem. A good driver wears seat belts. To turn it into a freedom or rebellion issue is not smart, not right, not intelligent, not objective, not adapted. Also, not wearing seatbelts is anti-social and psychologically maladapted. Because it's logical and obvious that seat belts prevent you from being smashed around inside the car or be thrown outside, they should be loved and honored and cherished. What would have happened to this woman's parents, family, friends, future husband, future children, if she had gotten injured or killed? And she will if she keeps up this type of aggressive driving. If she refuses to wear seat restraints, she almost certainly refuses to drive within speed limits. She needs a driving personality makeover--see here: http://DrDriving.org/articles/makeover.htm Take care. |
| Useful Links to Explore |
MrTraffic's Page on Graduated Licensing in California State-by-state provisions for teenage drivers U.S. LICENSING SYSTEMS FOR YOUNG DRIVERS as of June 23, 2000 Available in PDF format Sample Driver Tests in California (commercial, regular, motorcycle)
DriveHome Safe.com -- A teen driving website
center for parents and future teen drivers |
| From The Early Show at CBS.com |
 (...)Here are three of the
riskiest situations
Parents can help by being in the car with the teenager and instructing them - most
teens can benefit from tips on driving, and ALL teen-agers need plenty of practice. About
40 states have graduated driver's licensing (GDL) which limits when and where a teen-ager
can drive and with whom. But these laws also mandate that a parent spends time in the car
with the teen-ager. — The DriveRight Monitor will set off an alarm if the driver begins to exceed the speed limit (...) Data from the monitor can be downloaded into a computer. To order, go to www.davisnet.com or call (800) 678-3669. — The Call My Mom bumper sticker says: "How's my driving? (...) (...) (...) |
| Q : What if my child is driving my car and an accident occurs? |
A : Some jurisdictions recognize the "family purpose doctrine," under which the "head" of the family who maintains a car for general family use may be held liable for the negligent driving of a family member who was authorized to use the vehicle. The fewer than twenty states that adhere to this doctrine treat the family member as an agent of the vehicle owner, who is presumed to be better able to satisfy property damage and injury claims. Family Legal Guide |
| In California |
What? Cruisin' with an Adult? The Truth about the Newly Implemented Driving Law Divya Chowdary | Digital High Staff Writer Lynbrook High School (...) What Poor Unfortunate Souls So here's what the new legislation means for those unfortunate souls whose 16th birthday falls after July 1. Upon turning 16 and passing the driving test, a new driver receives a provisional one-year license. The key word here is provisional, which in this case means that during the first six months, drivers must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or licensed driver over the age of 25 when driving between midnight and 5 a.m. or when transporting passengers under 20 years of age. During the second six months, teen drivers must be accompanied by a driver 25 or older only when driving between midnight and 5 a.m., but the teen driver may have passengers under 20 years old without supervision. In addition, even before a driver's license is issued, parents must certify in writing that they have spent 50 hours, including 10 hours at night, driving with their teen. If a teen meets all these requirements and doesn't receive a ticket during their first year of driving, the restrictions are removed. But why the change? These new driving laws are a result of the Brady/Jared Teen Driver Safety Act of 1997, which Governor Pete Wilson signed last October. The law is named after Brady Grasinger and Jared Cunningham, two teens killed in separate auto crashes in Southern California. This law wasn't designed by some paranoid bureaucrat who just wants to place more restrictions on teens, but is instead is a result of the efforts of Jared Cunningham's parents. Jared was only 13 years old when his teenage friend, who was driving the vehicle that the boys were in, made a stupid mistake that cost Jared his life. As Jared's parents learned to cope with the loss of their son, they realized that teenage driving accidents are far too common. In fact, statistics show that a 16- year-old driver is four times more likely to get into an accident than an adult driver is. The Cunningham's then joined forced with California State senator, Tim Leslie, to devise a driving bill that would make it harder for teens to get their license. Their goal was not to punish teens, but instead to simply increase the amount of practice that a teen driver gets before having a restriction-free license. (...) The Brady/Jared Teen Driver Safety Act seems to be generally disliked by teen drivers, but favored by their parents. "I think it's unfair that just because there are some bad drivers out there, everybody gets punished. It's kind of like that one rotten apple spoils that barrel saying," said Sara Jones, who won't be eligible to get her driver's license till this September. On the other hand, parents feel that the law is very beneficial. " I always hear my kids talking about how easy it is to get their driver's license. At least this was they'll realize that they must first prove themselves to be good drivers before they are given all the privileges," said one San Jose mother. Consequences of Infraction For all those new drivers out there who are affected by the restrictions, make sure to follow them because there are consequences. Penalties for violating the Brady/Jared Bill include up to 24 hours of community service, a $35 fine for the first offense and up to $50 for additional violations. |
| Beginning Teenage Drivers and Graduated Driver Licensing Questions & Answers |
Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration What is graduated driver licensing? Why target only young people? Why not target all novice drivers? Isn't it unfair to restrict all teenage drivers? Why not just penalize the problem drivers? Can graduated licensing reduce crashes and save the lives of young people? Is a nighttime driving restriction a critical component of graduated licensing? When should the nighttime driving restrictions begin? How early? What guarantees more supervised driving will occur under graduated licensing? Do parents support graduated licensing programs? How much does it cost a state to run a graduated licensing system? Who supports graduated licensing? Should graduated licensing legislation include language about insurance rates? Parents may be required to certify as many as 50 hours of daytime driving and 10 hours at night. Isn't this a bit much? Shouldn't teenagers be allowed to drive to school, work, and their extracurricular activities? Isn't driver education enough preparation for licensure? |