10-Mar-2003

New survey shows parents worry most about teen driving

A survey just released by DaimlerChrysler shows that of 400 parents asked about concerns for their teenager, 51% ranked driving issues as their overall concern, this over teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, drugs or alcohol.

This is no surprise to Gary Direnfeld, executive director of the I Promise Program, teen safe driving initiative. "In our conversations with hundreds of parents we have also learned that they are most white knuckled a week before their teen gets their license to about 3 weeks thereafter."

As such, Direnfeld has teamed up with insurance agents across North America. He recognizes that all parents call their agent within this time frame saying, "they are looking to make an insurance purchase to cover their teen and this is precisely the time for agents to tell parents about the I Promise Program."

Direnfeld is a staunch advocate of this initiative. He is quick to point out that if a teen dies in America today, the odds are that it will be from a teen driver car crash.

Statistics from the CDC website bear him out. In year 2000, 4,657 teens ages 16 to 19 died in car crashes. The next four leading causes of death in this age group are homicide, suicide, cancer and heart disease. But if you add these up, they still do not equal the number of deaths from car crashes alone.

The I Promise Program provides a safe driving contract and has parent and teen discuss and agree to expectations and responsibilities for the use of the car. Research from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development shows that parents who used a similar contract were more apt to place greater restrictions on their teen drivers than parents who did not.

The I Promise Program builds on the concept of "parental monitoring" where social science research shows that parents who are more aware of their teenagers, whereabouts, friends and how they spend their time and money, have teens with lower pregnancy rates and are less likely to smoke, drink and do drugs.

Information about the I Promise Program is available from the website: http://www.ipromiseprogram.com . There you can view the list of agents currently recommending the program.

Gary Direnfeld, MSW, Executive Director
I Promise Program Inc.
20 Suter Crescent,
Dundas, Ontario, Canada
L9H 6R5

(905) 628-4847
gary123@sympatico.ca
www.ipromiseprogram.com