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A new idea to keep teen drivers safe on the road
I Promise
Program combines agreement between parents and young
drivers with toll-free number for other road users to call
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Grant
Yoxon |
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The
Ottawa Citizen |
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The Teenage driver Brennan Direnfeld
shows the sticker with the toll-free phone number of the I
Promise Program. The program to encourage safer teen driving was created by
his father, |
When children learn to drive
and head off in the family car, parents sit at home and worry. The headlines
about car crashes involving young drivers are bad enough, but the statistics
are even worse.
In 1999, the most recent
year for which figures are available, 410 Canadian teenagers were killed in
car crashes. Another 29,321 were injured. Teens are three to four times more
likely to be involved in an automobile crash than any other age group.
What can parents do to help
their driving children get home safely?
"As I gained my composure
I noticed a toll-free number on the back of a truck inviting calls to report
driver behaviour," he recalls. "I felt like reporting the youthful
driver to his parents. Then I thought of my own son who would soon be of driving
age ..."
From this encounter originated
an idea that has the potential to reduce accidents, injuries and deaths among
novice drivers. The I Promise Program, to be officially launched in January,
combines an agreement between parents and teens with a 1-800 number for other
road users to report the teen's bad (and good) driving.
Mr. Direnfeld, a social
worker, already had particular insights into the consequences of risky driving.
In the 1990s he developed rehabilitation services for patients with brain
injuries, many the result of car crashes.
After the experience on
the freeway, Mr. Direnfeld went looking for a suitable accident prevention
program for his son. He was surprised to learn that driver education, which
teaches basic vehicle operation and the rules of the road, has no verifiable
impact on accident rates among novice drivers.
And one evaluation of
The authors of the 1998
report cautioned against interpreting this as evidence driver education doesn't
work. But it does indicate a weakness in programs that rely entirely on education.
"We have learned that
education alone is actually of little value in terms of modifying teen behaviour,"
says Mr. Direnfeld. "The evidence for this comes from sexual health research,
cigarette smoking research, seat-belt use and the (graduated licensing) research
report of the
In contrast, there is some
evidence that commercial vehicle monitoring programs, such as those stickers
on the back of trucks that ask "How's my driving?" and provide a
toll-free number to call, are effective. A 1998 study by the Hanover Insurance
Company of
Those stickers would be
the genesis for the I Promise Program, which Mr. Direnfeld devised with a
partner, Jan Lowther. It consists of a comprehensive parent-teen "mutual
safe driving contract" and a decal with a number for others to call to
complain about, or compliment, the road manners of the I Promise participant.
The contract is meant to
allow parent and teen to "negotiate their mutual expectations about the
use of the car and responsible driving behaviour," and to set out explicit
conditions, expectations and penalties.
It's not just the expected
behaviour of the youth that is documented. Parents must agree to provide and
maintain a safe vehicle and abide by the same rules as their child.
The sticker with the toll-free
number is placed in the rear window of the family car. "This facilitates
accountability," says Mr. Direnfeld. "Reports are taken by a call
centre and forwarded only to the family for the information to be discussed
as determined by the parent-teen mutual safe driving contract."
Registration costs $49 and
includes the contract, decals and one year of the monitoring service. It's
available from Mr. Direnfeld's company at www.ipromiseprogram.com .
Naturally, teens might be
reluctant to drive around displaying the bright, multi-coloured stickers,
but Mr. Direnfeld notes, "Our son was actually anxious to go through
the contract and get the sticker on the car as he knew that, for our family,
this was the only path available to obtain the keys. He also knew that his
parents were happy to be in a situation where we would be expected to drive
safely. It was a family win-win for safety."
Getting the program right
for both parents and teens is important. The Children's
Later, Plan-It Safe will
provide a follow-up study on some 50 families to view their use of the program
and its effect on their driving attitudes and behaviour.
The program has attracted
the attention of insurers, who see in it the potential to reduce accidents
and claims involving young drivers. In January, the Dominion of Canada General
Insurance Company will make it available to its policy holders.
Mr. Direnfeld is hoping
the
He believes the I Promise
Program, made available through the insurance industry, could reduce teen
crashes by 10 per cent. "A modest 10 per cent reduction equates to 3,000
less serious bodily injuries and 40 less teen driver deaths annually."
Grant Yoxon is managing
editor of CanadianDriver (www.canadiandriver.com).
© Copyright 2001 The Ottawa Citizen
(905)
628-4847