Police to start teen driving program

Sunday, December 15, 2002

The glove box will no longer be a good place for teen drivers to hide warning tickets they receive for speeding in the city of Lancaster.

Teens thinking they can get away with speeding without their parents finding out may be a thing of the past, thanks to a safe driving initiative by the Lancaster Police Department.

Officers will now be tracking warning tickets issued to teen drivers. When a teen gets a warning, a letter will be sent home to their parents letting the parents know about the infraction. The letter will also recommend the family to the I Promise driving program for teens through Healthy Lancaster.

If a teen gets a second warning, another letter will go home, asking parents to bring their child to the police department for a counseling session with Pfc. John Otruba, highway safety officer for the Lancaster Police Department.

“Maybe we can affect these kids’ driving habits before they kill themselves,” Otruba told City Council on Tuesday night.

The program won’t be targeting all young people, Otruba said, only the ones the police department comes notices during normal patrols, just like anyone else who’s caught speeding. And if a family gets a second letter about a child speeding, police officers won’t be dragging them to the department – the counseling sessions are voluntary.

The I Promise Program is an initiative to reduce the risk of teen-age car crashes. The program includes a parent/teen mutual safe driving contract and a rear window decal displaying a toll-free number and the question “How’s my driving?” Any call made to the number is received by a private call center. The information from the call is sent by mail to the family.

The information is not released to law enforcement. Instead, parents are expected to initiate conversations with their teens on the subject of safe driving.

Safe driving contracts encourage communication between parents and youths so parents can relate clear expectations to teens. Parents who use comprehensive contracts tend to place greater restrictions on their teen driver, resulting in safer road use, said Tracey Garrell, executive director of Healthy Lancaster.

Garrell said she’s looking forward to working with the police department on the new initiative, which is set to begin Jan. 1.

“We’re happy to collaborate with the police department,” Garrell said. “We’re both trying to do the same thing – to prevent collisions before they happen.”

Families interested in the program may either go to the I Promise Program Web site at www.ipromiseprogram.com or to the Healthy Lancaster Web site at www.lancastercountysc.net/healthylancaster. Order forms are available on both Web sites.

Contact for Healthy Lancaster:

Tracey Garrell, Executive Director
Healthy Lancaster
107 S. French Street
PO Box 1809
Lancaster SC 29721
Phone (803) 285-6220
Fax (803) 285-6324
E-Mail: tgarrell@lancastercountysc.net
Website: www.lancastercountysc.net/healthylancaster

Contact for I Promise 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