Category Archive: Safe Driving

How to Use a Teen Driving Checklist

April 14, 2009

Teaching their teen to drive is a stressful experience for many parents. The parent is nervous about the teen driver’s safety, while the teen is giddy with excitement. Parents may be ambivalent about this rite of passage because it means their child is growing up, while teens are eager for the new level of freedom and independence associated with a driver’s license. The parent wants the teen to absorb as much information about the driver training process as possible; the teen just wants to learn enough to pass the road test.

One way to manage driver training sessions is to use a Teen Driving Checklist. The checklist provides an opportunity to review concepts and provide feedback on the driving lesson. Using this tool provides structure to each lesson, which facilitates learning for the teen and helps the parent feel more comfortable about the process of teaching the teen to drive.

The parent should complete one copy of the checklist during each lesson. Before the parents share it with the teen at the end of the lesson, the teen can complete a second copy of the evaluation. This self-evaluation helps teens learn to assess the driving behavior of themselves and other drivers, a critical concept once they are out on the road on their own. After the teen finishes the self-assessment, the two checklists should be compared and discussed in detail.

Parents should be sure to acknowledge areas of improvement as well as make a note of skills that need further discussion and practice. If the driving lesson was particularly difficult, parents can wait a few hours to have the discussion, but it should take place prior to the next driving lesson so the teen won’t continue to practice bad habits.

Since the checklist includes basic, intermediate, and advanced skills, parents can easily tailor each driving lesson to a specific set of skills. Avoid packing too much into one driving lesson, which could overwhelm the teen driver. It is better to hold a few extra lessons than to take a chance on skimping on a teen driver’s knowledge of critical driving skills.

Graduated Driver Licensing Laws: A Comparison

April 8, 2009

A national model for Graduated Driver Licensing Programs has existed since the mid 1990s. The model provides guidelines for states to create their own GDL programs. Currently, no state follows all the guidelines, and GDL programs vary widely from state to state.

The recommended guidelines are:

Stage 1: Learner’s Permit

State sets minimum age for a learner’s permit at no younger than age 16;
Pass vision and knowledge tests, including rules of the road, signs, and signals;
Completion of basic driver training;
Licensed adult (who is at least 21 years old) required in the vehicle at all times;
All occupants must wear seat belts;
Teenage-passenger restrictions;
Zero alcohol while driving;
Permit is visually distinctive from other driver licenses;
Must remain crash and conviction free for at least six months to advance to next level;
Parental certification of 30 to 50 practice hours; and
No use of portable electronic communication and entertainment devices.

Stage 2: Intermediate (Provisional) License

Completion of Stage 1;
State sets minimum age of 16.5;
Pass a behind the wheel road test;
Completion of advanced driver education training (safe driving decision-making, risk education, etc.)-All occupants must wear seat belts;
Licensed adult required in the vehicle from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. (e.g., nighttime driving restriction);
Zero alcohol while driving;
Driver improvement actions are initiated at lower point level than for regular drivers;
Provisional license is visually distinctive from a regular license;
Teenage-passenger restrictions: not more than one teenage passenger for the first 12 months of intermediate license. Afterward, limit the number of teenage passengers to two until age 18;
Must remain crash and conviction free for at least 12 consecutive months to advance to the next stage;
Supervised practice; and
No use of portable electronic communication and entertainment devices.

Stage 3: Full Licensure

Completion of Stage 2;
State sets minimum age of 18 for lifting passenger and nighttime restrictions; and
Zero alcohol while driving.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

To understand the range of differences among states, let’s examine the GDL laws of four states: California, Florida, Mississippi, and North Dakota.

The NHTSA recommends that the state sets the minimum age for a learner’s permit at no younger than age 16. In California, the minimum age for a learner’s permit is 15 years, six months; in Florida and Mississippi, the minimum age is 15. The minimum age in North Dakota is 14.

Before getting a license or restricted license in Florida, new drivers must have a mandatory holding period of the learner’s license of twelve months; the other three states require six months. In Mississippi, license applicants age 17 and older are exempt from the holding period. The NHTSA recommends an intermediate (provisional) stage with a minimum age of 16.5. The applicant must remain crash and conviction free for at least six months to advance from the learner’s permit to the intermediate level. They further recommend that in the intermediate license stage, the applicant must remain crash and conviction free for at least 12 consecutive months to advance to full licensure.

The NHTSA recommends parental certification of 30 to 50 practice hours of driving in the learner’s permit stage. While California and Florida each require 50 hours, 10 of which must be at night, neither Mississippi nor North Dakota require certification of any driving practice hours.

Applicants in Mississippi must be age 15 years, six months before getting a license or restricted license. Florida, North Dakota, and California require a minimum age of 16; however, in California, license applicants who do not take driver education must wait until age 18 for a license. The NHTSA recommendation is for full licensure only after completion of the intermediate licensing stage, with a minimum age of 18 for lifting passenger and nighttime restrictions. However, North Dakota does not have any passenger or nighttime restrictions, and Florida and Mississippi have only nighttime restrictions. California’s passenger restriction is that for the first 12 months, the restricted driver may have no passengers younger than 20, with limited exceptions for immediate family.

One way to improve the traffic crash figures for teenage drivers is to advocate for stronger Graduated Driver Licensing requirements in your state. In the meantime, you can reduce the risks for your own children by ensuring that they obey existing GDL laws and by implementing some of the NHTSA’s guidelines into your own house rules if your state has relatively weak GDL laws.

Bicycle Safety Tips while on Spring Break

April 1, 2009

Beach towns are a popular spring break vacation destination, and often a bicycle is the easiest form of travel in these small, often-congested areas. But bicyclists are vulnerable to other road users, especially motor vehicles. In fact, the first automobile crash in the United States occurred in New York City in 1896, when a motor vehicle collided with a bicycle rider (Famous First Facts, by Joseph Kane).

Tips for Bicyclists

Bicyclists must obey all traffic controls and signals.
Be sure to comply with helmet laws in the state where you are riding. Bicycle helmets are recommended for all ages.
Watch for pedestrians as well as motor vehicles.
If you are allowed to ride on the sidewalk, yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing.
Keep at least one hand on the handlebars.
On the roadway, check behind you before changing lanes. Signal your intent to turn to other vehicle operators by pointing in the direction you are going to turn.
Do not ride two abreast when this will impede the flow of traffic.
Do not wear headphones or any other listening device except a hearing aid while bicycling.

Tips for Motorists

Give bicycles extra space whenever possible. Some riders may not be able to control their bicycles well and may suddenly get in your path. Be sure to give extra space to young riders, riders who seem distracted, riders who may have been drinking and older riders.
As you start to pass, approach slowly and try not to frighten the rider. Be aware of the possible path the bicyclist may take. Riders may swerve for hazards you are not aware of, such as potholes, puddles, and storm drains.
Always start your pass well behind the bicycle. You should have at least a half-lane of space between your vehicle and the bicyclist. If you do not have this much space, wait for a gap in oncoming traffic and then pass.
Before you move over to pass, signal to traffic behind you to let them know that you are changing lanes. You may want to warn the cyclist by tapping your horn.
At night, use your low beam headlights when traveling near bicyclists. Avoid shining your high beam headlights into riders’ eyes.
When parallel parking, check for bicycles before opening the driver’s side door.

Bicycling is a fun, efficient form of transportation. Put safety first for a better spring break.

Spring Break Safety – How to Identify an Impaired Driver

March 18, 2009

Many spring breakers drive to and from their vacation destinations. Spring break drivers are often relatively inexperienced due to their youth and may have difficulty navigating hazardous driving situations. One way to manage the risk is to spot impaired drivers early so you can increase your space cushion. This way, if the impaired driver causes a crash, you are much less likely to be part of it.

Although the term “impaired” typically refers to drivers who are under the influence of alcohol, for the purposes of this article, it refers to any driver who is exhibiting difficulty with the driving process. A driver may be “impaired” by drowsiness, confusion, distractions inside or outside their vehicle, aggression, talking on a cellular phone, or a variety of other causes. For those who are sharing the road with an impaired driver, the most important issue is that the other driver is impaired; the specific reason isn’t as significant, because the reactions of other drivers should be the same regardless of the source of the impairment.

You should scan the general behavior of other vehicles when you search the driving scene, noticing any drivers who are:

Drifting within their lane
Speeding or driving at erratic speeds (speeding up, then slowing suddenly)
Weaving in and out of lanes
Exhibiting odd behavior, such as stopping for a green traffic light
Displaying aggressive behavior, such as following too closely

Once you recognize that a driver is impaired, you must increase the amount of space between your vehicle and theirs. Motorists are often tempted to pass a driver who may be impaired, but this option is dangerous because it decreases the space between you and the impaired driver, even if only temporarily. The point of identifying impaired drivers is to note their unpredictability. If the impaired driver makes another mistake while you are passing, you could be involved in a crash.

Take the following actions when you recognize an impaired driver:

Reduce your speed. This will increase your following distance if you are behind the impaired driver. Also, reducing your speed will allow you to more safely take other actions, such as changing lanes.
Continue scanning the driving scene. Don’t get so distracted by the impaired driver that you cause a crash yourself.
Increase your following distance from other vehicles. If you tailgate the vehicle in front of you, you will be forced to focus on that vehicle to avoid rear-ending it.
Once you’ve increased your distance from the impaired driver, check the space cushion all around your vehicle – in front, behind, and on both sides. Make sure you haven’t compromised your space cushion in your effort to move away from the impaired driver. Make any necessary corrections carefully. Remember to signal for all lane changes.
Resume your scan of the driving scene. Impaired drivers are common in popular vacation spots.

If you think an impaired driver is in imminent danger of causing a crash, ask a passenger to note the license plate number, a description of the vehicle, and the vehicle’s location and direction of travel. Have your passenger contact law enforcement, or pull off the road so you can safely make the call yourself.

Make your spring break a safe, healthy, relaxed vacation using defensive driving techniques from the National Safety Commission.

Tips for Teens: Drowsy Driving during Spring Break

March 13, 2009

Many young people spend the time following the end-of-year break from school looking forward to Spring Break, when they will have a great time frolicking with friends in a sunny, sandy locale.

But the long hours of recreation in the hot sun and the excitement of spending the week with friends can cause fatigue on the drive home. Six hours of sleep or less triples your risk of becoming sleepy while driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary losses.

Being fatigued while driving can result in a serious crash due to:

Impaired reaction time, judgment and vision
Problems with information processing and short-term memory
Increased moodiness and aggressive behaviors

Some drivers try to avoid these effects by ingesting substances such as NoDoz, Red Bull, or coffee, each of which contains caffeine, a stimulant. But it’s important to realize that the effect of any of these products is, at best, minimal and temporary. The “crash” that follows when the stimulant effect wears off can leave a driver feeling more tired than ever and can increase irritability. Sleep is a neurobiological need that can only be met with sleep, so increased dosages of caffeine will only increase the severity of side effects, not the degree of wakefulness. Too much caffeine can cause restlessness, nervousness, muscle twitching, and an irregular or rapid heartbeat.

To increase your chance of arriving home safely, make plans for your return from Spring Break that allow for a good night’s sleep the night before you leave. Sleep experts recommend at least seven to nine hours. Avoid alcohol and medications (over-the-counter and prescribed) that may impair performance. Plan to leave at a time which will not require you to drive through the night.

Take your driving trip with a companion so you can switch drivers when needed. Passengers can also watch for early signs of driver fatigue. Passengers should stay awake to talk to the driver. Schedule regular stops every 100 miles or two hours. Never try to drive “straight through” – you might never arrive at all. When you stop, spend several minutes stretching and taking a short walk.

Signs that tell you that you must stop immediately for sleep include:

Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking, or heavy eyelids
Trouble remembering the last few miles driven; missing exits or traffic signs
Yawning repeatedly, rubbing your eyes, or trouble keeping your head up
Drifting from your lane, tailgating, or hitting a shoulder rumble strip

Remember, the only cure for sleepiness is sleep!