Disturbed

Wow, I don't even know how to begin this post. There is nothing funny about it. No amusing anecdote, no warm fuzzies, no awwww how sweet is that.

I am finding it increasingly disturbing that more people, parents especially, don't see a problem with these statistics:

"Each year, nearly 6,000 American teenagers die in car accidents involving teenage drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; more than 300,000 are injured."

"During 2006, a teen died in a traffic crash an average of once every hour on weekends and nearly once every two hours during the week."

"Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S." --Accounting for 44% of teenage deaths.

Maybe because I am a mother to 3 teenage sons I am currently more sensitive to the problem. Neither of my sons who are legal age have their licences yet- just permits. For a few reasons, one being they haven't earned their rank of Eagle Scout yet (a household rule to show us responsibility) and the second being the cost to insure a male driver under the age of 21. (It is staggering!) Not to mention the costs of an added car, added fuel, etc. Now I'm thinking how happy I am that they aren't behind the wheel alone yet.

I was busying around a few days ago with the television on in the background and heard a news program say that 6,000 teens a years die in auto accidents and that 87% of those die in accidents caused by driver distraction. Cellphones, loud music, eating, passengers talking, etc. I stopped and sat down to watch as a reporter had his daughter take a driving proficiency type test. She did very well, being licenced for about a year. Then she took the same test while she was supposed to text a particular phrase to the instructor. She didn't do nearly as well. Added to the car were a few of her friends, talking and giggling loudly and some music. She did even worse. Terrible in fact. She seemed shocked because she thought she was a good driver.

What are we doing to stop this? Are we pulling our kids keys? Are we mandating driver's education? Making them watch those horrific movies I had to watch in 10th grade Driver's Ed from the Ohio Highway Patrol? (Which by the way only managed to ruin my appetite for lunch after that class and not scare me into thinking I could DIE.) Passing more Graduated Driver Licensing laws? (Which I think are about the only things that are helping right now.)

Do/have any of these things even work/ed without parental support? Too many parents have the attitude that kids will be kids. Or, it won't happen to my child. Many parents even let the child drive without a licence or provide them with alcohol which can contribute significantly to increasing their risks of an automobile accident. Or complain about having to drive them or their younger children around for longer now thanks to GDL laws.

My kids and I have talked frequently over the years about how I trust them and know that they will try to make safe driving choices. But what about all the other crazies on the road? Do my kids possess the maturity or experience to avoid an accident someone else causes? Do I? Do I get impatient and drive aggressively? Do I read texts while I'm driving? Do I blast the radio? What kind of example is that? And by the way, accidents happen. It's just life. But do they really understand how dangerous just ONE seemingly insignificant dumb choice can be? And what about auto safety? They aren't driving around the huge gas guzzling steel banana boat cars most of my friends had when I was a teenager. They are driving little pieces of plastic at 120 MPH. Maybe I should make my kids wear motorcycle helmets and body armor in the car. (Kidding. Sort of.)

I remember when we were trying to replace my van, we had been looking at other vans (puke) just because we have 5 kids and need the space. We stopped at one dealer and looked at a Chevy Venture. It was okay as far as looks go. I mean, it was a van, come on. You've officially left cool-ville forever when you drive a van. I asked the salesman, or should I say, saleskid, what the safety rating was on this particular van. He blathered on about it being excellent, pointed out the engine that detaches itself in severe accidents -don't remember why that would be a good thing?- and assured me it was VERY safe. I left the lot, unable to commit myself to another mini-van and then went home and looked up the safety rating on MSN autos. You can watch the video here. I think he either must have wanted me DEAD or he was just a uneducated moron. Or both. The safety ratings more than averaged -POOR-. (P.S. If you want to see other safety crash tests you can go here to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.)

Again...as a parent, it's my job to do the homework myself and not trust someone else to insure my child will be safe behind the wheel.

I wrote down the statistics from that news program and put it up on the fridge, mostly to avoid losing it in among the other randomly scrawled tidbits of information floating around my house. But you know what? My kids noticed it. And at Sunday dinner, my family members noticed it. It was a topic of discussion. It has been several times since then.

In the end I think it all boils down to parental involvement.




My kids have always been told that some things are rights and other things (MOST things in fact) are just privileges. Driving especially falls into that category. It's definitely inconvenient for me to be in a car shuttling kids all day long, but at least I know where they are and I know they aren't street racing or hanging out of the windows hollering at friends, or hood surfing. (If you know my kids you know they wouldn't be caught dead doing any of those things anyway.)

I know as a parent I can't be everywhere all the time, and they are growing up all too fast and will someday need to drive themselves around. I'm not saying they won't be allowed to have their licences when they qualify for them. But I am saying that it will be an ongoing matter of discussion that responsibility is a requirement when those keys are handed over. People's lives really are at stake. Including, and importantly, theirs.

The more I have thought about that statistic, I realized (and in NO way am I trivializing war or in any way do I mean to show disrespect to those soldiers who have lost their lives) but honestly my boys are safer in Iraq than on the streets of America. According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count in 2007, there were 902 US military member deaths in Iraq. Compared to 6,000 teen driving deaths in the same year and you see why I am disturbed.

As a parent there is only so much I can do and the rest is up to them. But still...a LOT is up to me and it will always be my job, and my business!

If you are interested in reading more about this, click on a few of the links below.


Teenagers and Cars: A Deadly Mix
Youth Traffic Safety Statistics
Teen Drivers Studies and Reports
Graduated Driver Licencing