I’m currently helping my 15 year-old learn to drive, and this just-released report by the Allstate Foundation absolutely terrifies me. The report documents a recent Foundation study that goes a long way toward explaining why conventional safe-driving programs aren’t working for teenage drivers.
Despite a proliferation of teen-driver safety programs in the U.S., in the last year - and in every year for the past decade - between 5,000 and 6,000 teenagers were killed in motor vehicle accidents, while about 300,000 more were injured. What’s worse, there will be a 23 percent increase in the number of teen drivers on U.S. roads in the next five years.
The study found that conventional driver training doesn’t attack the root causes of unsafe teen driving that stem from teen attitudes and mindset, including peer pressure leading to risky driving, and the physical immaturity of the decision-making areas of the brain (which aren’t fully-developed until the mid-20s).
If you’re a parent, a teenage driver, or a mentor to a teenager, this report is a must-read.
its has more to do with the numbers than anything else. there are more kids from baby boomers and more cars on the roads and per household than ever before. the most of any of those the more wrecks are gonna happen. you are always gonna have your constants like irresponsible kids and the more kids driving the greater the chance for there to be more of those that are irresponsible.
if safe driving programs aren’t working i think it has something to do with their attitudes and that stems from the parents. I know how teenagers blow off shit like that. If you are parent you know what your kid’s attitude is about stuff, if he/she is a jerkoff then you should know they aren’t gonna take drivers ed serious. I think a lot of parents today aren’t strict with the driving privilage. it is a privilage and not a right. Most let their kids drive out of convience. Kids in high school are involved in so many activities its hard when the mom and dad both work to cart the kid around to everything in that 3:00pm to 6:00 pm time frame.
at the time i hated my parents method, now i look back and it was awesome. here were their rules:
you were only allowed to drive once you could pay for the insurance. you were not permitted to drive with the radio on in the car till we were driving for a year. ( I know it was hard to enforce this one, but we really did not use it.), and no passengers in the car till we were driving for a year. Anytime we went anywhere we had to call when we left and then call when we arrived at our destination.
This idea got rid of most of the distractions why kids wreck, no radio to play with, no cell phone to talk on and then no friends to distract you. You called when you went anywhere so it was kind of a way to make sure you were not speeding. This definitely made me a better driver and more cautious behind the road. Another thing that hit home is that we were driiving down the road and my dad said. see that person, you can kill that person right now if you choose to. Driving is a huge responsibility and its defnitely taken lightly by most.
I think a lot of parents today aren’t strict with the driving privilage. it is a privilage and not a right. Most let their kids drive out of convience. Kids in high school are involved in so many activities its hard when the mom and dad both work to cart the kid around to everything in that 3:00pm to 6:00 pm time frame.
That and these moron parents go out and buy hi performance cars for their kids to drive. WTF? Everybody then acts suprised when some kid in a WRX crashes into a house or something. Please.
Quite simply people learning to drive need to go to autocrosses and compete. They’ll learn extreme braking and handling techniques and driving at or over the limits of the car/tires/their skills. Not only will they be a better driver but they’ll know where to go to release the need to be “Fast and Furious”.
Being good at parallel parking does not make somebody ready to drive a car on the road.
people call me a moron or retarded when i want to take out alot of the destractions in my car like my radio, ac, stuff like that. i hate havng a cell phone so i dont get destracted to talk while drive. if it were me and its setup right now i only have 2 seats in my car 1 for me and 1 for the ocasional passanger. im seriously half tempted to take out the other seat. i like your parents rules
i think in certain situations on the road it comes to down to instincts/anticipation, some have it, some don’t. i think 6-b-kwik knows exactly what i’m talkin about.
I was always around preformance cars as a kid, my dad always had a vette and there was always a few muscle cars around. Pops would take me down panther hollow and lay strips. Two years after i got my licence he gave me my keys to the GS and told me not to get arrested. i knew what he really meant. If i fucked around i would only ruin it for myself. In a way he was showing me things that weren’t exactly legal but i look at it like he was teaching me instead of one of my teenage friends.
I read a report/study sometime in the last few months where they were studying brain developement. It said that a persons brain is not fully developed until like the age of 25, and the part that is not developed is decision making. Baiscally saying that teens don’t have the ability to make snap decisions while driving fast enough, in order to avoid collision/accidents etc. Plus the other distractions on the road. What type of requirements does the state have as far as drivers ed/behind the wheel training? When I was growing up in VA we had to take and pass drivers ed (semester) AND behind the wheel (semester). Unfortunately there is no more drivers ed or behind the wheel b/c it was such a huge liability to the schools. ie/kid gets killed in the accident = mom and dad blaming it on the school failing to teach the kid how to drive properly. So do kids have to take these courses here in PA? Or do they just get some lame handbook that tells you how far away from an ambulance you should be and when you should start braking for a stop sign, then have them take a computerized test and bingo, they are allowed to drive. Certainly seems so from the amount of idiot teen drivers I see around here.
that thing your dad said is pretty cool, i mean sometimes blunt facts are better than the ‘mother hen’ tendencies. i remember the first time i drove at night, it was in teh winter so it snowed a lil and i was on the highway mosta the drive going to a basketball game. i sooooooooooo wasn’t ready. i mean i made it safe, but i turned off the radio and was glued to the road. really the driving tests don’t accurately show if you’re ready to drive
they should make the driving section longer and harder. and they should test you after you’re eligible for social security too, old eyes and reactions can be just as bad as young kids. driving isn’t a right afterall so make it a little more restrictive imo. :dunno:
i think thats more a maturity thing than anything else. you can’t teach it. I still do that in bad conditions. Its somthing that never goes away, thats why parents tell their kids to sit down and shut the fuck up when they really need to concentrate on the road. So i think you were ready, you knew what u needed to do.
all i did to get my permit was read a book and take a computerized test. after that, 6 months of parent assisted driving. then after 50 hours, you take your drivers test, starting, stopping, parallel, and road manners. i never took drivers ed, i’m 16 almost 17 (in march) licensed driver and am not crazy. but my friends are, they race all the time with traffic around. i told them they are fucking crazy and should find a secluded spot if they want to race.
yea, another thing, when your parents help you buy a car or buy it FOR you, you don’t feel as responsible for it when you crash it. most of my friends have cars given to them, and here i am working to get my own because my parents can’t help me. screw all you motherfuckers whose parents buy their cars.
when i was 15, i was spending all of my money on recreational substances… my dad got me a personal loan from a banker friend (with his name as the co-signer) and made me buy a CRX. I paid $148.18/month for 24 months for that car… never should have sold it. :crying:
When I started driving I was given $500 bucks towards a car and I had to have my OWN insurance. You take it easy when its YOUR property. To many asshole kids have too much shit handed to them.
The EVOC courses I go though at the fire station also helped alot, they teach you alot about WATCHING the other driver which is a big issue. I personally feel that the “drive defensively” theroy sucks ass. No I’m not saying you have to “drive offensivly” either. You just need to pay attention and drive period.
Yeah, thats hardcore but fucking smart. I think the driving age in PA should still be 16 for your PERMIT ONLY. YOu have to drive for 2 years with a parent till your 18 then you can get your lisence.
During highschool i wasnt allowed to drive with ANYONE in the car for like 6 months after I got my lisince. Eventually we all piled in Sonnys Quantum for a while and I drove it to school bc only seniors could drive to school lol. I found it a pain to concentrate while driving with more then one person in the car when I was 16/17. Thats why I bought a CRX… 2 seater, less distractions. I always drove my buddy Regelio to school when I got the car. I made him man the radio while I still learning to drive a 5 speed lol.
I think a good way for kids to learn how to drive is only letting them drive really shitty large and slow vehicles at first, for instance for the first 8 months I had my license I drove a 91 dodge caravan, which helped me learn that you can take turns too fast and not too cut people off etc. Now I see my brothers friends whos parents are buying them tiburons(sp?) and 240’s and they drive like total douches.
