January
2002 issue
Teens promise to drive safe under new
program
Few
occupations, other than morticians, see more dead teenagers than police.
Police, if not first on the scene, are always on the scene of every fatal car
crash and many of these involve teen
Teen-driver
car crashes are the single greatest cause of permanent injury and death in
teens in
While many programs preach the perils of unsafe
driving and advocate responsible road use, there is little or no evidence to
demonstrate that educational programs aimed at improving teen driver behaviour
has any appreciable effect, though they continue to try, at great expense. They
provide a “feel good”, but do not necessarily provide a “do good”.
A new report discusses this very issue. The
following excerpt is taken from: 2001 US National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) report. (The full report can be found at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/outreach/traftech/tt261.htm
)
States and communities conducted extensive youth
drinking and driving programs in the past two decades. These programs seek to
motivate youth not to drink and drive through positive means... Other
organizations such as insurance companies, automobile manufacturers, MADD, and
many others did the same through public education and specific program
activities.
There is little direct evidence of the effects produced by these activities…
There is no direct proof that most of the youth traffic safety program
activities not involving laws and enforcement had any direct effect on youth
drinking and driving. The accumulation of information,
education, skills, and role models provided by these programs may have been a
crucial influence in changes in youth attitudes, behavior, and crashes. There
is no strong research evidence...
The
report clearly shows that laws and enforcement alone affect teen driving
behavior. A new initiative, the I Promise Program, has found a potent way to
provide this in a palatable approach within the context of the strongest social
entity available - the family.
I Promise consists
of a comprehensive parent-youth mutual safe driving contract and a rear window
decal. The process provides parents with a structure for discussing and
negotiating matters that correlate most with youth related car crashes. Upon
completing and signing the contract, parent and youth seal their commitment by
affixing the rear window decal to the vehicle, which asks the community to call
a toll free number to report on driver behaviour.
Reports
are taken by a call center and forwarded by mail to the parent to be dealt with
as per the terms of the family contract. This encourages accountability between
parent and teen and to the general community, key elements to the concept of
enforcement.
The
kit is primarily distributed through partnerships with automobile insurance
companies, recognizing the mutual interest they share with parents – injury and
loss prevention. Information about this initiative must be included with every
new insurance certificate that goes out to a teen driver.
George Cooke, president of the Dominion
of Canada General Insurance Company,
The program has been developed with the
input of persons representing hundreds of interested organizations including
government, medical organizations, parent groups, injury
prevention groups and police services. You can view the parent-teen mutual safe
driving contract and over 87 letters of support many from law enforcement
agencies across
Feedback
from police has been overwhelmingly positive. They recognize that the program
will have the same deterrent effect as a known radar trap. Should a negative
report be made however, police also know that the parent has the immediate
ability to respond with sanctions on the use of the car.
Support has poured in from one side of
I
Promise is the brainchild of social worker
Direnfeld
is hoping to get the support of every law enforcement agency and insurance
company across
I
Promise Program
(905)
628-4847
