Lincoln, IL

Crashes up, accidents down Safe driving program for teens notes the difference [OCT. 24,2002] DUNDAS, Ontario, Canada — Internet searches for news articles with the key words "car crash" and "car accident" turn up a revealing ratio. Time was, most articles were found using the word "accident." Now many more articles can be found using the word "crash," and the difference is apparently important in the psychology of teen safe driving.

"As long as parents continue to consider car crashes as a matter of fate, or accept these events as an inevitable part of teen driving, parents will fail to see their role in reducing these events and protecting their children," says Gary Direnfeld, executive director of the North American-wide I Promise Program, a teen safe-driving initiative. It is important to move away from the use of the term "accident," he says, as this implies that the crashes are a matter of fate, when more often than not, this is hardly the case. There are several known contributors to teen driver car crashes, including excessive speed, risk-taking behavior, multiple teen passengers and driving after midnight. Parents often confuse their trust in their teen with recognizing that normal adolescent behavior includes greater risk taking and more impulsive judgment. Direnfeld surfs the Internet news articles almost daily and finds that at least one of these known crash contributors is evident in virtually every teen driver car crash. "As soon as parents learn they can control for many of these factors, their teens will have a better chance of returning home safely each night," he explains,

"and this applies equally to girls and boys." To help parents and society change their thinking, Direnfeld is encouraging all reporters and their editors to move away from the use of the term "car accident," in favor of "car crash" or "collision." It is important to use the correct words, he says, as this will have social and behavioral implications. Once parents realize these crashes are avoidable events, they are far more likely to act in the interest of their teen’s safety and participate in such initiatives as the I Promise Program. With 25 percent of all teen drivers experiencing a crash in their first year of independent driving and car crashes as the leading cause of teen death and injury, this is no small issue. Direnfeld thinks reporters and editors are getting the message. "I continue to surf the Internet looking at these articles daily, and the ratio of articles coming up under ‘car crashes’ as compared to ‘car accidents’ is getting better. Kudos to the reporters," he says. [I Promise Program news release]