Driving my daughter to school this morning we saw a car cut through three lanes of traffic to make a right turn. She looked at me and said “What that car did wasn’t very safe”.  With that simple statement it hit me; she would be going to get her driving permit in less than two weeks. My youngest daughter would be let loose on the Kentucky roads and will be driving. UGH!!!! (To quote Charlie Brown).

As a father and an accident attorney I started thinking about how dangerous the roads are and that they were not a very safe place for my little girl.  All of the horrible facts concerning automobile accidents, the fatal accident scenes that I had worked as a prosecutor and the many cases I have handled started running through my mind.

• Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among teenagers.

• Teenagers in the United States account for 10% of the population and 12% of the car accidents. It is worse for the 15-24 year old age group. This group makes up  approximately 14% of the U.S. population and for almost 30% of the cost of motor vehicle accident injuries.

• Newly licensed teen drivers have a higher crash rate their first year of driving than any  other year.

Why is this the case? Inexperience plain and simple.

• Most teen drivers will underestimate the seriousness of a dangerous situation.

• Teen driver have a hard time recognizing the presence of a hazardous situation.

• Teen drivers will break the speed limit more often than any other age group.

• Drunk drivers are bad, but teenaged drunk drivers are even more likely to cause a car  accident.

• Inexperienced drivers cause more accidents.

• The use of cell phones increase the risk of car accidents.

• Teen drivers have a much more difficult time adjusting to night driving.

What am I suppose to do? What do parents need to do to protect these new drivers? I do not want to obsess and just wait around for a late night phone call. How can we help reduce and prevent motor vehicle accident s involving teenagers? A good place to start is driver’s education and parent involvement. Sign up for a driver education class. Take the time to teach your kid how to be a safe driver. These steps may prevent injuries and even death.
injury accident

Kentucky is a state that has a Graduated Drivers License (GDL) program. These programs have been shown to reduce fatal and injury accidents involving new teenage drivers by up to 40%! GDLs delay full licensing of teens and restrict them from driving in higher risk situations. The goal of these programs is to reduce the number of car accidents involving our young drivers.

During the permit driving phase a new driver must be certified by their parent to have at least 60 hours of practice time behind the wheel. This is the minimum. The more they practice the better driver they will ultimately be. Also, any permit driver that receives a ticket and a violation during the 180 day permit phase has to start over. It will be another 180 days before they are eligible for their license.

Maybe things aren’t as bad as I think they are. Maybe I am acting like Eyore. But then I think back to daughter number one who is now an excellent driver. During her first year of driving she totaled two cars. Thankfully she walked away both times uninjured. Can I prevent daughter number two from a similar fate? No, but I believe I can increase her odds of success.

Should I have sign a safe driving contract? I think I will. Hopefully this will help make her aware of the many dangerous there are on the road and the responsibility one has when they are behind the wheel. Kentucky had on of the highest rates of teen car accidents in the nation in 2006. Teens made up 6% of our population and caused a whopping 20% of the accidents.

GDL programs are aimed at reducing these accidents after the permit phase and these driver’s are on the road without an experienced driver in the car. Night time driving is restricted between midnight and 6:00 A.M., except in emergency situations. I may be stricter myself, but this is a great law. Also the number of unrelated passengers under the age of 20 are restricted to one. Another great idea, because statistics show that the risk of an accident increases with the number of passengers. I guess it all comes down to paying attention to what you are doing and not multi-tasking.

Wish me luck over the next months. It is an exciting and scary time. My goal is to teach my daughter responsible driving. To be someone who makes are roads safer. To be an example of a good driver. Any suggestions would be appreciated.