Tag Archive: driver education
Driver Education: How Cough Medicine Affects Driving
July 16, 2009
Many parents who warn their teens repeatedly not to use illegal drugs are unaware of the temptation and risk posed by over-the-counter medications such as cough medicine. But cough medicine provides an inexpensive, easily accessible high to one out of 11 teens, according to the Partnership for a Drug-free America. And teens are often ignorant of or in denial about the risks posed by over-the-counter medicines which, they reason, are safe and legal. A 2008 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study indicated that only 45% of teens think taking cough medicine to get high is hazardous. Teens may not consider that though dextromethorphan (DXM) is safe to take in the recommended 15-to 30-milligram dose, they are likely to consume 360 milligrams or more in the effort to get high.
The effects of overdosing on DXM include:
- Confusion
- Impaired judgment
- Blurred vision
- Slurred speech
- Dizziness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Excessive sweating
- Loss of motor control
- Dissociative (out-of-body) sensations
- Paranoia
- Hallucinations
- Irregular heartbeat
- Loss of consciousness
- Seizures
- Brain damage
- Death
The situation becomes even more dangerous when teens abuse drugs they believe are safe and then get behind the wheel. To make matters worse, many teens who experiment with using cough medicine to get high do so when they are already under the influence of another drug, such as alcohol. This intensifies the effects, and, of course, makes driving riskier.
Information on how to abuse DXM is readily available on the internet and via teens’ friends, so parents must counteract it with information of their own – and with vigilance. Here are some tips for parents:
- Familiarize yourself with the basics of cough medicine abuse. Words to watch for (on your teen’s internet history) and listen for include Dex, DXM, Robo, Robo-ing, Robo- tripping, Skittles, Skittling, Syrup, Triple-C, and Tussin. DXM is found in syrups, lozenges, tablets, capsules, and gel caps labeled DM, cough suppressant, or tuss, or include the word “tuss” in the name.
- Include discussions about the risks of abusing over-the-counter drugs in your regular talks with your teen. Explain the difference between therapeutic dosages and overdosing, as well as the effects. Tell your teen that you want to know whenever they need to take any medication for any reason.
- Lock your medicine cabinet or keep medicines that contain DXM in a location that isn’t accessible to your teen. Keep track of how much medicine is in each container. Avoid buying multiples of medicines that contain DXM; doing so can be tempting to teens, and also makes it more difficult for you to keep track of the total amount of medicine in your household.
- Observe your teen, your teen’s bedroom and bathroom, and recreational areas carefully for medicinal smells and empty cough medicine containers.
Driver Education: How Drugs Affect Driving – Inhalants
June 17, 2009
Most parents worry that their teens will get involved in illegal drugs, but some parents are unaware of one of the main determinants of whether teens will experiment with drugs – availability. Because they are legal, easily accessible household products, inhalants are one of the most commonly abused drug categories. According to the 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, 4.6 million teens have tried inhalants. After alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana, inhalants are the most frequently-used drug by teens. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, inhalants are one of the first substances abused by children. Though addiction is rare, inhalants can act as a gateway drug when they are replaced with other accessible substances as children age and chase the next high.
Inhalants include solvents, such as paint thinner, gasoline, and glue; gases, such as butane, propane, and nitrous oxide; and aerosol propellants. Experimentation could occur with any household product containing chemicals – spray paint, cleaning products, felt-tip marker fluid, vegetable oil spray, correction fluid. Inhalants are “sniffed” from an open container or “huffed” from a rag soaked in the substance and held to the face. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, most inhalants cause a quick high similar to alcohol intoxication. The intoxication from inhalants typically only lasts a few minutes, so users often inhale repeatedly over a period of several hours, increasing the risk of adverse effects.
Effects of inhalants include:
- stimulation
- loss of inhibition
- slurred speech
- loss of motor coordination
- headache
- nausea or vomiting
- wheezing
- loss of sensation
- loss of consciousness
- muscle cramps and weakness
- memory impairment
- weight loss
- depression
- damage to the cardiovascular and nervous systems
- sudden death, even with first-time use
Because abuse of inhalants often occurs at a friend’s house or in out-of-the-way places such as in empty parking lots and on dead-end streets, and because driving is viewed as a fun activity by teens, the danger of inhalants can be compounded when teens use inhalants and drive. The intoxication caused by inhalants can cause the same problems as driving under the influence of alcohol – impaired judgment and decision-making, risky driving behavior, and poor motor coordination.
Ensuring that teens don’t experiment with inhalants requires a high degree of vigilance on the part of the parent. Inhalants are cheap, legal and easy to obtain, often from the teen’s own home. Teens are often not aware of the risk of using inhalants, reasoning that they are harmless household products and that they are only going to be used occasionally. In fact, the 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study showed that from 2001 to 2005, the number of teens who perceived inhalant use as risky decreased significantly.
Parents shouldn’t assume that if they don’t mention inhalants, it won’t occur to teens to use them. At any given time, a teen can be presented with the idea by a friend. In fact, since inhalants are often the first drug used by children, they should be one of the first drug categories parents discuss. Make sure teens know that even common household goods, such as cleaning products, can be harmful – show them the warnings on the labels about using them in well-ventilated areas, and ask them to explain how they think intentionally inhaling the fumes could harm someone. Talk about the risk of sudden death from sniffing or huffing, and ask teens to talk about how they would feel if they were with a friend who died from inhalant abuse. Opportunities for reinforcing the risks of inhalant abuse are everywhere – in driver training courses, in health education classes, in newspaper articles, and on television shows.
Restricting the availability of popular substances is also important. Clean out the garage and properly dispose of leftover chemical products. Those that must be kept should be locked in a cabinet or shed. Parents may wish to help teens avoid temptation by limiting or banning aerosol spray products such as deodorants, hairspray, fabric protector, and whipped cream. Keep a close watch on teens’ bedrooms and recreational areas for empty containers or smelly rags, especially in odd places, like under a bed or chair or in the back of a closet. Parents who suspect inhalant abuse must take action immediately.
Driver Education: Traffic Safety for New High School Graduates
June 5, 2009
Summer is here and school is out. Many young drivers will be spending more time on the road going to the beach or pool, working at summer jobs, and having fun with friends. This is an especially exciting time for teens who are 2009 high school graduates. Recent grads are filled with elation, a sense of freedom, and hopes and dreams for the future. But euphoria and increased independence can cause problems when they lead relatively inexperienced drivers to take chances behind the wheel. And summertime is a dangerous time for drivers in general; traffic deaths for all drivers increase during the warm-weather months, peaking in July.
Three deadly holidays take place during the summer – Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, in a 2004 analysis of six holiday periods, the average number of traffic deaths during holiday periods was 156 per day, compared to 117 per day on non-holidays. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 20 of the 25 deadliest days on US roads over a five-year time frame fell during the period from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day.
Teen motor vehicle fatalities are also highest in the summer, partly because it’s an unsafe time for all drivers, but also due to risk factors specific to young drivers. Like other drivers, teens spend more time on the road during the summer (averaging 44% more hours driving each week, according to the NHTSA) and are more likely to drive at night. But they lack the experience of older drivers in dealing with heavy traffic and low-visibility conditions. Like other drivers, teens behind the wheel in the summer are often accompanied by multiple passengers. But teens are often much more distracted by their passengers than older drivers, and they are unlikely to assert themselves even when they are aware that they need to concentrate on driving.
Parents who want their teens to survive the summer must stay involved in their teens’ driving activities. Without close supervision, the vast majority of teens lack the emotional maturity to stay safe behind the wheel – or as passengers of other teen drivers.
-Though most parents will broaden driving privileges for summer, avoid giving teens too many privileges at once. Extend privileges one at a time and make sure teens prove they can handle the increased responsibility before adding more.
-Conduct supplementary driver training lessons. For example, many teens have limited experience with night driving during the school year; a few lessons will help them learn good nighttime driving habits from the beginning. A teen driving checklist helps parents provide valuable feedback on the driving lesson.
-A driver training course will help teens review fundamental driving concepts during a time when they are most at risk. A quick safe-driving refresher could help an inexperienced young driver make the right choice in an emergency. Parents whose teens receive even one traffic ticket must address the issue immediately; tickets mean teens are probably engaging in more risky driving behaviors than parents realize.
-Parents should check up on their teens’ seat belt use as often as possible. In 2006, the NHTSA reported that 58% of 16- to 20-year olds who were involved in fatal motor vehicle collisions were not wearing seat belts. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that teen seat belt use increases over time when strict parental limits are set.
-A heightened level of awareness about their teens’ access to alcohol, particularly on holidays, is critical for concerned parents. Teens may even have access to alcohol via their friends’ parents; ensure that teens understand that underage drinking is never acceptable, no matter what any other parent says or does, even for a special occasion. Create a codeword so your teen can ask to be picked up without risking the ridicule of friends.
Driver Training: Teens and Seat Belt Use
May 28, 2009
As many drivers know, teens have a higher fatality rate in motor vehicle crashes than any other age group. One reason for this is that teens have lower seat belt use rates than adults. In 2006, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 76% of drivers aged 16 to 24 used their safety belts; this figure was lower than for any other age group. Perhaps more telling, in 2006 the NHTSA also reported that 58% of 16- to 20-year olds who were involved in fatal motor vehicle collisions were not wearing seat belts.
In some states, the numbers are even worse: An observational study by the Utah Department of Health found that the teen seat belt use rate was only 67% compared to a state safety belt use rate of 88.6%. The University of Missouri reports that between 1995 and 2000, only 24% of fatally injured teen drivers were buckled up, compared to the national average of 36% for teen drivers who died in motor vehicle crashes during this time.
Why don’t teens wear safety belts? The Utah Department of Health study reported that teens offer the following reasons:
- Forgetting to buckle up
- Wanting to be cool
- Peer pressure
- Seat belts are uncomfortable
- Traveling only a short distance
- A feeling of invincibility
The same study also found that the teen seat belt use rate falls when other high-risk factors are present, such as when teens:
- Drive under the influence of alcohol
- Drive at night
- Have multiple teen passengers
- Are driving without a driver’s license
What can we do to increase the seat belt use rate among teenagers? Initiatives include:
- The University of Missouri study found that whether or not teens will use safety belts is established well before the teens begin driving. Parents who want their teens to buckle up must wear their own safety belts and use child restraints and seat belts on their children from birth. The University of Missouri study found that teens were heavily influenced by a lack of seat belt use by the adults in their lives, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that teen seat belt use increases over time when strict parental limits are set. In an NHTSA study, about half of the unbelted students observed at 12 high schools were riding with adults who were wearing seat belts.
- Education and outreach are important methods of encouraging safety belt use. Many teens do not understand the physics of a car crash. The University of Missouri study found that teens are not well-informed about the consequences of crashes where occupants are unbelted. Teens also tend to extrapolate urban legends to a statistical majority, so they need to learn how to apply critical thinking skills to traffic safety concepts.
- Graduated Driver Licensing programs in many states have seat belt use requirements. For example, in North Carolina, graduated licensing law includes provisions for fines for up to $100 for safety belt violations by new drivers. Teens need to be educated on their state requirements and the penalties for violating them; parents need to enforce GDL laws as part of their house rules.
- Parents who are purchasing a vehicle for their teens should consider models with safety belt reminder systems.
- Schools have the opportunity to increase seat belt use by requiring student drivers and passengers to be buckled up when entering and leaving campus. Enforcement can be tied to vehicles with parking decals; penalties can be tied to restriction of and eventual loss of parking privileges.
- A primary enforcement safety belt law is effective in increasing safety belt use among teens, particularly among those who absolutely refuse to wear them otherwise. The NHTSA reports that teens are more likely to wear seat belts in states with primary enforcement laws versus in states with secondary laws. Teens often perceive indifference to safety belt use on the part of law enforcement in secondary enforcement states, because they don’t understand that enforcement is restricted by the law.
“Click It or Ticket” campaigns are also successful in increasing overall seat belt use rates.
How Teens Can Drive Safely on the Expressway
June 9, 2009
A complete driver-training program includes lessons on all types of streets and highways, both night and day, in a variety of weather and traffic conditions. But many teens get the majority, if not all, of their driver training on familiar roads close to home. Some young drivers do not make their first expressway trip until after they are licensed and driving on their own. This is a high-risk method for teens to gain driving experience, because:
Commentary driving is an excellent way to train teens to drive safely on the expressway. With commentary driving, teens maintain a running dialogue of their progress – what they notice as they observe the roadway and what actions they will take: “The car in front of me is slowing down, so I’m slowing down and checking my following distance. My exit is coming up in one mile, so I’m putting on my turn signal, checking my mirrors and blind spot, and moving into the exit lane. The exit ramp has a posted speed limit of 45 mph, so I’m slowing to that speed. It’s starting to rain, so I’m increasing my following distance.”
Commentary driving forces the driver to use critical thinking skills to make driving decisions. The fact that the driver’s observations are verbalized is comforting to the person (typically a parent) teaching the teen to drive, because it allows the instructor to follow the teen’s thought process and quickly make corrections without lecturing, which teens tend to tune out anyway.
Teens often feel awkward about commentary driving, so it is helpful to model it for them prior to beginning driving lessons. This also allows parents to perfect the process and to see the roadway with new eyes, thus relating better to the beginning driver.
From a practical standpoint, it is obviously important for teens to work up to practicing driving on the expressway. The first several lessons should occur during non-peak hours on dry roads during the daytime. Introduce one variable – nighttime hours, rainy weather, rush-hour traffic – at a time, and ensure the teen is completely comfortable with each before progressing to the next.
The following training tips will help teens be safer drivers on the freeway: