In Memory Of

Every class has its own crash story.  Whether it’s someone killed during high school or after, they will always be remembered as your classmate.  Not to specifically date myself here, but when I was in high school in the 80’s it seemed inevitable.  Every year you would know someone that died in an automobile crash.  It was accepted as something that just happened and took the lives of young and old every day.  It still robs lives, but we now know that, in most cases, it can be prevented.

I will never forget the date.  Although it’s been over 26 years now, I still recall the events of April 26, 1986.  My best friend and I were playing in an AAU basketball tournament in Farmington, Mo.  We arrived back in town late that evening only to be pulled over by other friends (no cell phones then), and advised that three of our classmates were in a traffic crash, with two of them dying and the third in critical condition.  As a small rural town the community gathered at a local church.  As teenagers we were asking “why”, as we mourned the critical condition and deaths of three outstanding student athletes, and children of our school and community leaders.  The impact of this accident is still felt by many to this date.  It’s something that we will never forget.

Little did I know that years later I would become a safety advocate, fighting to help reduce the serious injuries and fatalities on Missouri’s roadways.  Little did I know that I would be a parent that still remembered that April afternoon and prayed for my own teenager’s safety as I would watch him drive away with friends. 

Why do we wait until tragedy strikes to enforce the mandatory graduated driver license seat belt law on our own teenagers?  We ground them for not doing chores, coming home late, and terrorizing their younger siblings, but what are we doing to make sure their lives are safe on the road?  Why do teens wait until tragedy strikes to adhere to and reinforce this law to their peers?

Traffic crashes remain a leading cause of teen death. As a mom, that terrifies me. As a classmate, that frustrates me. As a safety advocate, that motivates me. Talk to teens - and anyone else you know who isn't a regular seat belt user. Buckling up costs nothing, but can save those who are most precious in the world.

Seven out of 10 Missourian’s killed in a 2011 traffic crash were unbuckled.  Buckle Up.  ARRIVE ALIVE!

Zero Tolerance, Zero Chances

It's not like it used to be.

When I was in high school, it was a regular occurance: it seemed every class had a crash story.

Each year, someone crashed on the way home from a party or event. Nearly always, they were drunk. Nearly always, other young adults in the car were, too. If we were lucky, everyone would get to go home from the hospital. That didn't always happen.

Drunk youth crashes were considered something that was inevitable.

Not anymore.

From April 30 to May 13, special resources will be focused on underaged drunk driving. Missouri law enforcement, schools and others who love teens, want to make sure Missouri youth celebrate spring, prom and graduation safely and while sober.

Though no one under 21 can legally possess or consume alcohol in Missouri, youth make up a significant proportion of drunk drivers causing crashes. From 2009-2011, 94 people were killed and 368 seriously injured crashes involving underage, drunk drivers.

Missouri has a Zero Tolerance Law. Drivers who are under 21 and caught driving with even a trace of alcohol in their systems have their license suspended. Minors in possession can lose scholarships and jobs.

Punishments can include jail time or being sentenced to use ignition interlocks. Insurance rates go up. Other financial hits include attorney fees and court costs. When family and friends find out, violators can also face tremendous personal embarrassment and humiliation.

Tell the young adults you know that special units will be out looking for drunk drivers. Ask them to program your number into their phone and to call you or another sober person to pick them up if they or their driver is in no condition to drive - no questions asked. Give them good options to protect their bright futures...or to have a future at all.

They're Watching You

This week is National Teen Driver Safety Week. Teen driving is a top concern for safety officials, especially when you consider that traffic crashes remain the number one cause of death for this age group.

Reaching teens with messages about buckling up, putting down the cell phone and focusing while friends are in the car are certainly important. But there's one other source that can really make a difference with teen driving: you. 

If you're a parent, you will face (if you haven't already) that moment when your child asks why you took your hands off the wheel, or why you made some choice comments to the driver ahead of you. 

Teens and children are watching. 

An article this week in USA Today this week points out that many parents admit to being distracted by phones or devices, even while they're teaching their children to drive. 

During Teen Driver Safety Week, it's a good idea for us all to think about how we can encourage safe driving for teens. It's an even better idea to model it for them each day. 

Good for LYF

We found out about an app this week that may help combat texting while driving.

The LYF app rewards you for making the decision to stay safe and focus on your driving. LYF stands for Love Your Family.

The application tracks the use of your phone when your vehicle is moving more than 15 miles per hour. If the phone is in idle status during that time, the owner receive points.

Find out more at www.goodforlyf.com. In the meantime, stay alert and focused when you're behind the wheel!

My Last Text

Take a look at your last three texts. Were any of them worth dying for?

Mine were:

• Yes sounds good.
• Just left to go to Home Depot and Lowe's.
• My Contacts Backup last saved your contacts 75 days ago.

Nothing too earth shattering there. I certainly wouldn't want any of those messages to be the last thing I read on this earth.

But if you're texting being the wheel, that message could be the last thing you read.

Texting makes a driver 23 times more likely to crash because it takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds.

In 2010, there were 21 fatal, 69 disabling injury, 477 minor injury and 1158 PDO crashes involving an inattentive driver using a cell phone. Twenty-two people were killed, 85 seriously injured and 679 received minor injuries in these crashes.

Next time you hear the buzz of a text message while behind the wheel, ask yourself if it's worth your life.

A mother and Highway Patrolman tell the story of how a text message cut one young woman's life short.

Never Say Never

I can remember when I first got my driver’s license and I used to get so annoyed with my mother when she’d say, “Drive carefully!” Like I wasn’t going to? Besides I knew that I was a good driver and I would never get in a wreck…until I did. Luckily for me, I was buckled that night. Unfortunately, other Missouri teens aren’t so lucky and seven out of 10 teens killed in Missouri traffic crashes are unbuckled.

That’s why the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety is launching a new campaign, called “Never Say Never,” aimed at youth to get them to buckle up. Just like everything in life, anything can happen. Teens are getting in their cars to head to school, sporting events, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs and other events that fill their social calendars. Unfortunately, teens have the highest crash risk and lowest seat belt use of any age group.

That combination is deadly, yet far too many teens still think they are invincible. Because of this feeling of invincibility, teen seat belt use in Missouri is only 66 percent, much lower than state (76 percent) and national (85 percent) seat belt use.

The new teen seat belt campaign takes aim at this ‘it will never happen to me’ attitude. The campaign uses photos of crashed vehicles with phrases like “I”ll never wreck my car” and “I’ll never get hurt.” Then the campaign drives home the message “Never Say Never. Buckle Up.”

The campaign is just one of the new strategies for increasing seat belt use in Missouri. Law enforcement will also mobilize in March to enforce the seat belt law. Under the Graduated Driver License Law, teens are required to wear their seat belt and it’s a primary offense, meaning they can be pulled over solely for not wearing their seat belt.

Other strategies for increasing teen seat belt use include working with schools to revoke high school parking permits for students who don’t buckle up and rewarding students who do.

A teen seat belt observational survey in April will determine if the new strategies have increased Missouri’s teen seat belt use. Buckle Up and Arrive Alive.

Training Road Wise Teen Drivers

As the mom of two teenagers and a preteen, I cherish any quality time I can get with my kids in today’s fast-paced world. But I wasn’t so sure how special that time was going to be when I first learned some of the QT – 40 hours precisely - was going to be spent on the road with my just-learning-to-drive, 15-year-old son (a requirement of Missouri’s Graduated Driver Licensing Program).

When I really thought about it, though, I realized he really needed to practice his driving skills and our time together would give us teachable moments about the rules of the road. So, first it was off to the Capitol Mall parking lot in the family car. It was great! We had a lot of wide open space, yet he had to drive slowly and it gave us lots of opportunities to practice turns, stopping at stop signs, yielding to pedestrians, etc.

Eventually we hit the streets and went on longer drives outside the city limits. This is where my comfort zone was tested … often. I did my best to stay calm and helpful, but my knuckles got a little whiter and there were many times I tried to slam on brakes that just don’t exist on the passenger side floorboard, especially riding down the very narrow lanes on Rte. 179 to our church.

Most of the time, his dad or I practiced with him during the daytime. But, the GDL program requires that 10 of the 40 hours of practice driving occur at night. Good thing, too, because since he got licensed more than a year ago, he has done plenty of night driving; i.e., closing at work, late night arrivals after Friday night football games, etc.

Overall, our 40 hours of QT behind the wheel was a good experience. And somewhere along the way, I became MoDOT Mom because of my constant reminders to him to wear his seat belt. Many times, both then and now, I have shared tragic stories about teens who have died in traffic crashes because they weren’t wearing their seat belt. I can only hope and pray this will drive the message home.

Unfortunately for many teens, their lack of experience behind the wheel puts them at a higher risk for traffic crashes. Did you know that our teen drivers only make up 9 percent of licensed drivers, but they are involved in nearly 24 percent of traffic crashes? Or, were you aware that of the 104 teens killed in traffic crashes in 2009, 76 percent were not wearing their seat belt. We don’t want our son to become part of these statistics, so his dad and I gladly took on our responsibility of helping him become a good, safe driver.

Ahh, but that will soon start all over again. You see, our daughter begins driver’s training next year. This time around, we look forward to using MoDOT’s newly redesigned teen safe driving guide, Road Wise. The parent tips in the booklet will help guide her learning experience and we will use the log in the back to track her practice time. It will be a great tool to help teach her the importance of driving safely. But even greater will be the 40 hours of quality time we will have together.

Safe Driving – A Guide to Teaching the New Driver

I’ve had two teens enter the driving arena in the past two years, and I’d like to say I was calm, cool and collected throughout. But lightening would strike. When you take a turn on two wheels or get close enough to the car in front of you to read the fineprint on its bumper sticker, it’s hard to be emotionally level-headed. My son constantly groans, “Mom, I do a fine job when you’re not in the car!” Hmmm . . .

So instead, I’ve turned to the experts at the Department of Revenue to find some sage advice on how to teach a teen to drive. First, they recommend that parents and teens develop an agreement so everyone is clear about the family driving rules and expectations. You can find a sample form on their Web site or you can create your own. What a nifty idea! I wish I would have thought of it.

The revenue department also offers a booklet titled Safe Driving – Guide to Teaching the New Driver. I highly recommend it as a must-read for those with new drivers. Again, I wish I would have thought of it. But I didn’t, so here are my own personal tips, which, while not eloquent, do come from personal experience and may help ease the tension when driving with a teen:
• Set a good example and practice what you preach – speeding, road rage and other bad habits can be learned practices.
• Don’t yell or nag – it’s tempting, but it only makes things worse.
• Be patient – every new task has a learning curve, and this is one that can’t be taken lightly.
• Don’t overload your driver with facts and tips – make comments sparingly and when appropriate or your remarks could be distracting.
• Be positive – compliment your teen on driving the speed limit, signaling in a timely manner, looking both ways before proceeding, etc. Praise works better than criticism.
• Encourage young drivers to speak up for what is safe and right – peer pressure can lead to trouble when teens are behind the wheel.

If nothing else, you can always resort to putting one of those “Student Driver” signs on your vehicle. That will explain everything.