GUEST EDITORIAL: Parents can help teens stay safe

Editorials

October 28, 2009

Anonymous The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Wed Oct 28, 2009, 01:32 AM EDT

This is National Teen Driver Safety Week, and the message is simple: Talking to your teen about safe driving can make a difference.

According to statistics from State Farm Insurance, car crashes remain the No. 1 cause of death among teenagers. The fatality rate for drivers ages 16 to 19 is four times that of drivers ages 25 to 69.

The fatality rate for 16- to 17-year-olds is highest within the first six months after getting a license, but the rate remains high through the age of 24.

There’s no safety in numbers. About two-thirds of teen passenger deaths occur when another teenager is driving.

Teens are almost 10 times more likely to be in a crash during their first year on the road. One in four traffic fatalities in the United States involves a driver 16 to 24 years old.

But there is good news for parents. A recent study found that teenagers whose parents set boundaries for driving were half as likely to crash, twice as likely to wear seat belts, 71 percent less likely to drive while intoxicated and 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while driving.

State Farm urges parents to find out the graduated driver’s license restrictions in their state and to make sure their children follow them.

Tell your teenager to feel free to blame you for his or her unwillingness to go along with the crowd, and work out a code word your child can use if he or she needs to be bailed out of an unsafe situation. With a code word or phrase, the teen won’t have to say, “Come and get me, Mom.” He or she might simply say, “I forgot to walk the dog.”

Parents should also make sure their teens get lots of supervised driving practice. Fifty hours is a minimum, not a maximum.

Let your teen drive when you’re in the car together, and make sure he or she gets a chance to drive under various weather conditions as well as at night. You might even want to keep a log of the hours you spent driving and the skills you practiced.

Catch your teen doing it right. Teens need positive reinforcement, so point out when your child uses good judgment behind the wheel.

But when they do it wrong, point that out, too. Take away the keys if you have to, and make sure they know the reasons why.

Teenagers are counting on their parents to spell out the rules of the road. Let’s be sure we don’t let them down.

Need info? To learn more about National Teen Driver Safety week or to view the online parent resource, visit www.statefarm.com/teendriving.

— The Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, Ind.

Text Only

Editorials

‘Mailing it in’ is not good enough
The U.S. Postal Service has been mailing it in for years. It has stuck like an old postage stamp to a business model that was going nowhere fast, literally. Snail mail is still the USPS stock in trade, and it has increasingly earned its nickname. And for a poorly run operation, it certainly does cost a lot. USPS must offer competitive shipping options, guaranteed faster delivery times and overall service enhancements — or the death spiral of an American institution will continue.

March 2, 2012
OUR VIEW: Time for Mongielo to face the music
Town of Lockport auto repair shop owner David Mongielo has gone over the line in his violation of a town sign ordinance.

January 2, 2012
OUR VIEW: At dawn of New Year, a call for civility
Each new year brings with it an inherent hopefulness in our own lives and the larger world around us, this one in particular — if only because it isn’t 2011.

January 2, 2012
Have a safe New Year's Eve
This isn’t the Prohibition era, and we’re not into moralizing about alcohol consumption.
We have no beef about adults having a few drinks on New Year’s Eve, as long as no one else gets hurt in the process. Your choice — hangover, no hangover. Check yes or no.
But, with one very important proviso: Don’t drink and drive.
And we’re very much against hosts of a New Year’s Eve party sending their guests out to their cars when their guests have overindulged. Especially when there are safe options to avoid behavior that risks your life and that of others you may encounter on the road.

December 31, 2011
The bus stops here
The NFTA’s proposed cuts to local bus routes have the potential to really hurt the little guy, the rider who relies on the bus to get to work, to shop, to get to the doctor’s.
It just shouldn’t happen.

December 28, 2011
OUR VIEW: Lockport taxpayers lose again
We find it highly inappropriate that the City of Lockport — via its development corporation — is again punishing taxpayers for renovations to 57 Canal St.

April 26, 2011
CHEERS & JEERS
We applaud Lockport Town Court and Judge Leonard G. Tilney Jr. for recusing themselves from the driving-while-intoxicated case against local attorney Daniel E. Seaman due to conflict of interest.

April 26, 2011
OUR VIEW: Recharge N.Y. is a plus for us
We’re encouraged that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s visit to Niagara County this week brings a new and improved version of the Power For Jobs program to our area.

April 21, 2011
CHEERS & JEERS: The US&J’s view on the best and worst of the week
April 21, 2011
OUR VIEW: Cleanup is up the creek
New York state had an Eighteenmile Creek cleanup within its grasp — and now it’s trying to change horses in mid-stream. And that could leave the cleanup effort up the creek without a paddle.

April 21, 2011
More Editorials Headlines

Editorials

Search Results

GUEST EDITORIAL: Parents can help teens stay safe

Site Map

Contact Us