ANALYSIS
By John Ulczycki National Safety Council
Teens Need Graduated Driver’s Licences, More Time Spent on School Buses
Seemingly overnight, teens go from one of the safest modes of transportation, riding in school
buses, to two of the most dangerous, driving a car or riding in a car driven by another teen. Teens are most at risk during that first year they get their driver’s license. Tat is because the leading cause of teen crashes is inexperience. As their time behind the wheel increases, their risk of being in a crash decreases. One important key to reducing teen crashes is increasing parental understanding of the role they must play in providing teens with the knowledge and sufficient practice time behind the wheel to become safe drivers. Tis is a significant educational challenge. It is not unlike the challenge faced in the student transportation industry in educating drivers on
the importance of practicing proper etiquette for stopping for school buses at bus stops. In both cases, teen drivers and drivers around school buses, children’s lives are at stake. Te educational challenges in increasing understanding and changing behaviors are significant. Te National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 5,000 people die each
year in crashes involving teen drivers, and two-thirds of those fatalities are people other than the teen driver — passengers, other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. For teens, a license represents freedom. Many teens with access to a vehicle want to drive them-
selves and their friends to and from school, and many parents allow them to do so. According to NHTSA, students are 50 times more likely to arrive safely at school if they ride the bus rather than drive themselves. Add passengers to the car and a teen driver’s crash risk nearly doubles; it continues to grow with each additional passenger.
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Student transportation agencies should learn how best to protect and educate teens who choose to drive to school. ❞
As teens forego a safer mode of transportation, it is everyone’s responsibility — parents, educators,
driver education instructors and other teens — to help these novice drivers understand the risks they face behind the wheel as well as the intricacies of state laws on teen driving. Tere are actions parents and teens can take to effectively minimize exposure to common teen crash factors. Just as districts are taking action to better teach the proper etiquette and laws involving school buses, parents, school administrators and transportation experts must know and reinforce with teens the proven principles of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL). GDL is a three-step program that effectively reduces teen crashes by maximizing experience while
minimizing common risks teens face, such as carrying young passengers and driving at nighttime. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have implemented some form of GDL. States with strong GDL programs have seen teen crashes decline by 20 to 40 percent. Stronger GDL programs bring better crash reduction results. Te National Safety Council recom-
mends that, regardless of state laws, parents should talk to their teens and make sure they observe these simple rules proven to reduce teens’ crash risk: no passengers under 18, no driving after 10 p.m. and no use of cell phones or other electronic devices at any time while driving. In addition, parents need to consistently reinforce with their teens the importance of safety belt use during every trip. It is somewhat paradoxical that teens have grown up sitting in child seats and booster seats, yet when they reach driving age, safety belt use seems to drop significantly. Interviews and focus groups with parents conducted by NSC suggest most parents do not know of the life-saving actions they can take to help keep their teens safe behind the wheel. Driver education
48 School Transportation News Magazine April 2012
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