Traffic collisions are the leading cause of death for young people in the US with more than fourteen deaths per day on America's roads. That is more than the number of teen deaths by murder, suicide, and cancer combined. It is a tragic issue that driving safety experts have been working a long time to try to solve. While there have been some gains, mainly through Graduated Driving License (GDL) and mandatory seat belt laws, the death and injury rate remains too high.

One way to solve the problem is to look to the teenage drivers themselves for a solution. The National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) is an organization that is trying to make a difference. Made up of more than 70 national nonprofit organizations, business and industry partners, and federal government agencies, NOYS has developed some innovative ways to get teens involved to get the word out to other teens about driving safety.

As sponsors of the National Youth Traffic Safety Month® (NYTSM), NOYS is sponsoring a nationwide contest to involve teens in spreading the traffic safety message. Act Out Loud is a competition to get teams from high schools throughout the nation to spread the word among their peers about the dangers of teen driving. The contest will run from October 14, 2011 – January 13, 2012. There are more than $90,000 in cash and prizes with a $10,000 grand prize going to the winning team along with a private concert from musical star Skyler.
The rules are simple but it will take a lot of team-work and creativity to win the grand prize. To win, the team must complete three projects:

• Create a T-shirt with an awareness message that focuses on preventing the use of mobile communication devices behind the wheel


• Create a billboard message that promotes awareness for passenger restrictions


• Create a Facebook "Yearbook" and send letters to national and state legislators to push for stronger GDL laws

For more information about entering the contest or partnering with NOYS, visit: http://www.actoutloud.org/

Labels: driving safety, gdl laws, Graduated Driver Licensing, graduated licensing

North Dakota is the only state in the nation without a GDL system. As confirmed by the figures in the last few years, vehicular crashes are the leading cause for teen fatalities not only in North Dakota, but all over the country.

Currently, North Dakota is the only state that has not yet implemented a graduated licensing program. North Dakota only has two stages to its licensing, with a learner's permit being available at age 14, and a full license granted at the minimum of age 16. They lack the intermediate stage, which is the time new drivers should have passenger and nighttime driving restrictions.

This has prompted the North Dakota Coalition for Graduated Drivers Licensing which includes the North Dakota Highway Patrol, the North Dakota Department of Transportation, the North Dakota Department of Health and AAA North Dakota to support a bill to amend that.

The graduated driver's license bill, which is to be presented to the 62nd Legislative Assembly this year recommends a change: three stages to the licensing for new drivers. The additional intermediate phase will include the necessary passenger and nighttime driving restrictions during the first few months of unsupervised driving to better train new drivers into acquiring the skills necessary to be better-equipped safe drivers on the road.

Labels: GDL, gdl laws, Graduated Driver Licensing, graduated licensing, learners permit, north dakota, safe teen drivers

The STANDUP Act, which is short for the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection Act is an act that aims to standardize Graduated Driver Licensing programs in all 50 states. Its reasoning: to not only keep new teen drivers safe, but to keep all motorists safe as well.

It lists down certain requirements for states to follow, such as:

• Making the Graduated Driver Licensing program a 3-stage licensing process, with full licensure granted at age 18
• Strict enforcement of curfew for nighttime driving for drivers in the first two stages
• Passenger restriction to only 1 (under the age of 21) that is not immediate family, unless under supervision by an adult driver
• Zero usage of electronic communication devices, be it hand-held or hands-free
• Minimum age for learner’s permit license (stage 1) should be 16, while the minimum age for full license should be 18

Of course this includes that the state has required drivers at least 30 hours of supervised driving and that licensure delays are to be allowed if the new driver commits an offense.

Further studies have proven that stronger GDL laws reduce the number of teen driver-related crashes in the last few years. This is also an indicator of how are times are changing: an emphasis on GDL laws is clearly required in some states more than others.

The act also has separate sections for what happens when states comply with the proposal: an incentive grant will be received by that state after 3 fiscal years of enforcement, while a withholding of state funds for federal highway construction could be imposed for states that don’t follow suit.

As of this writing, the proposed STANDUP Act is still up to the House, Congress and Senators. Concerned citizens who are for this (which a majority of people are) could send a message to their local officials showing their support for it passing. Imagine a future with this in place, where teen crashes are virtually unheard of, and parents can sleep well at night.

Labels: florida gdl laws, GDL, Graduated Driver Licensing, STANDUP Act, teen drivers

This week is the National Teen Driver Safety Week (Oct 17-23) and since it has been established by Congress 3 years ago, this time of the year is dedicated to helping teen drivers understand the responsibility that comes with driving. Each year, the leading cause for unnecessary teen deaths is vehicular accidents, and it’s good to know that the Congress is doing something about it.

This year’s theme, which is appropriate --- is distraction. That is, ending distractions on the road for teen drivers. Distracted driving is the number 1 reason why new drivers end up in needless accidents. To help spread the message of stopping distracted driving, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, along with State Farm Insurance have teamed up to present the “Park the phone. Drive.” (or the NNID) PSA.

Some ways to help spread the message on teen driving safety is to share the PSA through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, websites or find ways to get it shown to a local community.



Another way is by initiating a “Ride Like A Friend. Drive Like You Care.” (RLAF) campaign in your school. It is a campaign designed to teach safe teen passenger and driver behavior. Its main goal is for small groups of teens to start informing their fellow teens about teen driving safety and ultimately making press coverage. All of the information and materials needed are available for FREE at the RLAF site. (http://www.ridelikeafriend.org/)

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has a message for all teen drivers: “Keep your hands on the wheel, your eyes on the road, and both (hands and eyes) away from your cell phone while driving.” They have even outlined a specific strategy to combat unsafe teen driving behaviors:

• 1. Increase seat belt use.


• 2. Reduce teens’ access to alcohol.


• 3. Implement graduated licensing program by state.

These steps can be adopted by local driving safety advocates for them to teach parents, educators and teen drivers that accidents can be prevented by safe driving practices.

Lastly, one of the best options is to start from home: if there are teen drivers in the family, this may be the best week to review driving safety habits not just for the teens, but also for all drivers in the family.

Labels: banning texting, florida gdl laws, gdl laws, Graduated Driver Licensing, teen driver safety, texting and driving