Teen >> I couldn't wait.
Teen >> Couldn't wait.
Teen >> I was really excited.
Teen >> I got my license the day that I could.
Mom >> Oh, the minute he could.
Teen >> It was awesome.
Teen >> I'm pretty sure the first place
I went when I got my license was Taco Bell.
Teen >> was really excited I went and
drove everywhere.
Teen >> To a friend's house so I could show off.
Teen >> Having that freedom go
wherever you want to go.
Teen >> You don't have
to depend on your parents anymore.
Teen >> Going on dates or something you
don't have to have your mom drive you.
Teen >> It's just one less thing
they have to worry about.
Teen >> I can just leave my house and I don't
really have to tell her like what I'm doing.
Teen >> It's fun to be with your friend in your
car and listen to music.
Teen >> 16 when you start to become more mature.
Narrator >> Teenagers in the United States get their
licenses earlier than in most other
countries and they have easier access to
cars once they're licensed. In many
families giving the car keys to a newly
licensed driver means not only freedom
for the teenager but also relief for the
parents from seemingly endless
chauffeuring duties, but it comes with a
potentially high price.
Ann McCartt >> Crashes are the number one
cause of death among teens.
Per mile driven the crash rate for teen
drivers is four times the crash rate for
adults. It's higher still at night and
it's higher when there are other teens
riding in the vehicle. It's the highest
still right after they get their license.
In fact that crash rate for sixteen year
olds is twice as high as a crash rate
for 18 and 19 year olds. During the
learner permit when teens are doing
practice driving with their parents in
the car, crash rates are really low.
That's a very safe way for teens to
drive but once the teen begins to drive
without their parent in the car
crash rates skyrocket.
Teens are inexperienced drivers.
They're more likely to speed.
Teen >> I think it's fun.
Teen >> Going 80 85.
Teen >> I end up rushing a lot.
Ann McCartt >> They make more driving errors.
Teen >> I almost hit a person
like week ago.
Ann McCartt >> They take corners
too fast, then they follow too closely.
Teen >> I rear ended them.
Ann McCartt >> They're not always able to handle a
hazardous situation that pops up for the
first time. Driving in bad weather for example.
Teen >> It was raining outside.
Teen >> And we like skidded and like slid.
Ann McCartt >> An adult driver just
has more experience handling
a situation like that. Teen drivers tend
to minimize their risk and overestimate
their driving ability.
Teen >> I think I'm a good driver.
Teen >> Yeah, I'd day I'm am a pretty good driver.
Teen >> I think I'm a pretty good driver.
Teen >> I would say I'm a good driver for now.
Ann McCartt >> And that can get them into trouble.
Mom >> She just loved people.
She made friends easy, you know,
she had a lot of friends. Brandi was a
good student she loved to learn she was
really looking forward to going to
college and I never will forget when she
had been looking, she had been watching the mail
close for her acceptance letter to
see if she got into JMU and she went to
the mailbox that day and she came on
back. She come through that door and she
said, "yes, yes, yes!" and she opened up the envelope,
you know, and she looked and she
read it, I can see her now, she just
"yes, yes, yes," she said.
It was a beautiful
January day. The sky was so pretty and
blue and the sun was bright and it was
just a love a day. In that particular day
she didn't have to be to school until 11
o'clock. She sit there and she ate a bowl
of cereal and she changed clothes three
times before she left. When she got in
the truck she put a seat belt on. When
she was sitting in a vehicle if she was
gonna drive or if she was riding, she always
put a seat belt on. You know, anyway
that morning and police scanner was on
and I just in the back of my mind I heard
them say that they had been a bad
accident on route 130, and get on down
then and there is a fireman in the road,
you know directing traffic, and I can see
a truck and I could see the bumper and
I saw the sticker and I knew it was that
truck. So I pulled over to the side of the
road and I asked that fireman, I said, "A little
girl driving that truck?" I said, "Is she hurt bad?"
He said, "Are you kin to her?" I said, "yes, I'm
her mother" and about that time two rescue
squad workers, one got one side of
me and one got on the other side
and I said, "the little girl driving that
truck," I said, "is she hurt bad?" And the woman
said, "yes ma'am." I said, "is she dead?"
She said, "yes, ma'am."
Narrator >> Brandi was an inexperienced
driver who died in a crash
just one month after getting her license.
Inexperience contributes to many
crashes involving beginners. For 16 year
olds the first few months of driving is
when the risk is highest. Many parents
think that driver education is a good
way to address some of this risk. It's a
good and convenient way to help new
drivers learn skills but parents
shouldn't rely on it because poor skills
aren't always to blame. Many crashes with
young drivers involve their attitudes,
not their skills.
Ann McCartt >> New drivers of any
age have a higher crash risk but the
issue for teens is that they are
coupling that driving inexperience
with immaturity.
Teen >> I love to blast my music in the car.
Ann McCartt >> They're young.
Teen>> Driving a car so it's like riding a bike.
Ann McCartt >> They may be prone to risk-taking.
Teen >> I drive real reckless.
Ann McCartt >> combination of driving
inexperience and immaturity
is a lethal combination. It leads to
a much higher crash risk for new teen drivers.
Mom >> She got her license on her 16th birthday.
She got her car on her 16th birthday.
She had waited for it, we
had waited for it, we were just as
anxious for her to have her license as
she was. To have her license. She was
probably the kind of child that every
parent would hope to have. She took
everything life had to offer and made
the most of it. She had danced for almost
15 years. She had been a competitor in
gymnastics, percussionist in the band and
she loved everything she did and she
could never get enough. Unfortunately
Shannon was 16, she was a teenager behind
the wheel. She was going to a slumber
party that night and Shannon had a
passenger in the car and her friend had
passed her and probably a combination of
let me see what my little four-cylinder
car can do, Rebecca saying "come on Shannon,
pass Heidi" and as Shannon tried to pass
Heidi. Heidi moved over so Shannon
couldn't get by her. Shannon lost control
of the car and she was hooked up to life
support for 24 hours but. She got caught
up in the spirit at the moment, a little
bit of peer pressure, a lot of being a
teenager and thinking you're invincible,
it won't happen to me.
Narrator >> Shannon's crash was like many other
serious ones involving teenagers. It was
at night and it involved speeding and
thrill-seeking. Graduated licensing
restrictions on young beginning drivers
help prevent some of these crashes and
so can restrictions imposed by parents.
Ann McCartt >> The concept behind graduated licensing
is to ease teens into driving so that
they gain experience and low risk
situations so the first stage of
graduated licensing is a learner's
permit. During this period the parent or
another adult is in the car. Then the
next stage is what would be called an
intermediate license and this is the
stage where the teen first begins to
drive without their parent in the
vehicle but graduated licensing limits
that driving.
Narrator >> The best graduated
licensing systems require 50 or more
hours of supervised driving during the
learner stage, licensure at 16 and a half
years or older and limitations on night
driving and driving with other teenagers
in the vehicle until the beginning
driver is 18.
Ann McCartt >> All states now have some
elements of graduated licensing and
research study after study has found
that graduated licensing laws are highly
effective in reducing teen crashes. The
stronger the graduated licensing law the
bigger the crash reductions.
Narrator >> These kinds of legal restrictions reinforced
by parents let young beginners be mobile
and get driving experience but they do
so under conditions of controlled risk.
Protecting young people while they're
learning to drive is really the essence
of these restrictions.
Graduated licensing programs around the
country have reduced crashes of teenage
drivers up to thirty percent. But in many
states the restrictions imposed by the
laws are still weak, for example, many
nighttime crashes of young drivers
happen between 9 p.m. and midnight but
the driving restrictions in many states
begin at midnight or 1am and some states
don't restrict teen passengers even
though the risk of a crash goes up with
even one passenger in the car and with
multiple teen passengers the risk is
three to five times greater than when a
teenager drives alone. Driving around
with groups of teenagers at any time of
the day is a bad idea and the highest
risk for young drivers is after nine
o'clock at night with other teams in the
car. This is when inexperience and
immaturity are most likely to lead to
dangerous behavior.
Dad >> Gabriel always had a
smile on his face and so did everybody
around him. The very best of kids.
He kept the rules, everybody loved him.
The driver was driving too fast. There was
one of Gabriel's favorite songs on the
radio and so it's party time and she was
in the backseat and he was in the front
seat dancing with her. He was up dancing
with her. That driver might well have
been distracted by that. Gabriel was not
wearing a seat belt, he always wore seat
belt, he used to tell me to wear seat
belt. It's late at night, multiple
teenagers, radio going on and not much
experience in driving. And here he was in
a moment of carelessness, an unguarded
moment of carelessness, you know,
he was dancing in a car instead of looking
straight ahead with a seat belt on.
He was dancing with a girl in the back seat.
The driver was carried away also with the
party that was going on in his car, it's what
happens to 16 year olds. And the driver
was not seriously hurt physically, the
little girl was not seriously hurt
physically. Gabriel's not here anymore.
Narrator >> Gabriel wasn't even driving. He was a
passenger having fun in the car with
other teenagers. Letting your teenager
ride with a teen driver is very risky
and Gabriel wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
Belt use by teenagers is lower than for
adults and for teen passengers it's
particularly low. Most teens who are
killed in crashes aren't using their
seatbelts. This is why parents should
insist on belt use all the time for
everyone in the car.
Parents have a critical role during the
very dangerous first year of driving.
They have much more influence than is
typically credited to them.
Ann McCartt >> Parents are still the key
decision-makers about their teens driving.
Narrator >> With or without a
strong graduated licensing law, parents
can establish effective rules. First, know
the law. Become familiar with your
state's restrictions on young drivers
and then enforce them.
Ann McCartt >> Parents are the
chief enforcers of their states
licensing laws and they can supplement
the laws with other rules that limit
nighttime driving and teen passengers.
Mom >> There's a midnight curfew.
It's ten o'clock for us.
Ann McCartt>> They have a very strong
influence on how their teen learns to drive.
Mom >> Take every opportunity to drive
with them in bad weather, darkness.
Ann McCartt >> You try to cover all the different driving
situations your teen might encounter so
that the first time your child is in
that situation they've had practice and
they know what to expect and how to
respond. One of the most important
decisions a parent can make is when they
allow their teen to get a license.
Mom >> It's not a given that once you turn 16 you'll
be able to get your license.
Ann McCartt >> Even though your teen
may be pressuring you to get
the license as soon as possible, the
longer you can wait to let your teen
began to drive the safer your teen will be.
Teen >> It's been beaten into our heads
enough that drinking and driving is
beyond stupid.
Narrator >> Parents should insist on
no alcohol. Teenagers are less likely
than adults to drive after drinking but
their crash risk is much higher when
they do.
Keli Braitman >> Distractions are a common factor
in the crashes of newly licensed teen
drivers. Cell phones and texting for
example are a problem for teens because
it takes their attention away from the
driving task and almost half of teens
have reported that they've texted while
driving and even more have said that
they've talked on phones while driving.
Teen >> I do text and drive, I mean that's
just the reality of it.
Teen >> You know when you get that buzz or that ring
it's just, it's a habit, it's just a reflex to go and
check your phone.
Teen >> It is really distracting
and you try so hard not to look at the text.
Keli Braitman >> There are a growing number of
states that have laws banning cell
phones for young drivers but young
drivers often ignore those bans.
Narrator >> This is one reason laws aren't sufficient.
Another reason is that cell phones and
texting aren't the only distractions.
Teen >> It's really easy for me to get
distracted with other people in my car
the music.
Teen >> You know you're constantly
looking down at your GPS or fumbling
with the papers in your hands.
Teen >> Eating, I can't eat and drive. It's so hard.
Keli Braitman >> Anything that takes attention away
from the driving task is going to be more
problematic for young drivers.
Narrator >> Parents need to send a clear message to
their teens that they need to focus on driving.
Anne McCartt >> one of the most important decisions
parents make about their teens driving
is the vehicle that they'll drive and
there are several features of vehicles
that make a difference. The vehicle
should be mid-sized are larger.
They should avoid really small vehicles.
They should avoid sporty vehicles and they
should avoid pickups, because these
vehicles have a tendency to roll over
and they're harder to handle.
Narrator >>The best vehicle choice for your teen is one
with the latest safety technology including
side airbags that protect people's heads
and electronic stability control.
Teenagers often don't perceive they're
at risk and they think they're invincible.
Teen >> You don't think that it's
ever gonna happen to you.
Teen >> It won't happen to me.
Teen>> I'm young, I'm healthy nothing
bad's gonna happen to me.
Narrator >>Attitudes like
this combined with immaturity and peer
pressure can lead any teenager to drive
irresponsibly. Their driving behavior
is likely to be far different from when
parents are in the car.
Teen >> If I'm in the car with
my mom, I drive the speed limit and make
sure I turn on all my blinkers and
everything but if you're in
a car with your friends on a Friday
night, some of those, uh, things just kind
of go out the window a little bit.
Narrator >> Graduated licensing programs are an
important step toward reducing the risks
for beginning drivers but the role of
parents is critical during the very
dangerous first years of driving.
We know what works. Restrictions on driving after
nine or ten at night and not allowing
teenage passengers. These restrictions
don't keep teens from getting to
after-school activities or to work but
they do cut down on some of the most
dangerous kinds of recreational driving.
Ann McCartt >> Parents may not recognize how
important their decisions are. Our research
suggests that teens will stay safer when
their parents stay involved.
Teen >> We were taking a turn at 70 even though it's
advised to take it at 35 or whatever,
and like we just lost control, like just
flip but we were all good.
Teen >> We were in his
driveway. He is in reverse and he floors it
and he crashes into a tree.
Teen >> she didn't have her
headlights on and it was night
time I was like you know you need to
turn those on and she just continued to
drive with them off.
Teen >> There was an island there
and so I went over the island.
Teen >> I really wasn't paying attention I just made
a right and almost hit like three little kids.
Teen >> If it doesn't affect me directly I'm not
gonna worry about it, until it does.
Mom >> You just keep going but you
never really get over it. You never
really. It's no way in the world you can get
over losing somebody especially a child.