Speed demons

Young drivers, especially males, like to go fast. Their heedlessness can be deadly.

 SCOTT EDMONDS, CP  2003-10-20 04:23:34

 Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in North America. Hardly a week goes by without a headline somewhere about a carload of teens hitting a tree, rolling over or smashing into another vehicle with tragic results. "When young people are involved in accidents, they're often worse," says Const. Chris Blandford, an RCMP traffic specialist. "They may take a few more risks and inexperience plays a big factor."

Older drivers still cause many more accidents, but the experts agree teenagers are over-represented in proportion to their numbers on the roads. And they seem to get hurt far more often.

Add alcohol and the mix often becomes deadly.

"When alcohol is a factor, what we've found is if they're involved in a crash, it usually results in serious injury or death," says Blandford.

Speed, not alcohol, however, is behind most teen car crashes.

The Manitoba Public Insurance Corp. says 16- to 24-year-olds are twice as likely to be involved in an alcohol-related crashes as older drivers and five times more likely to be involved in a speed-related crash.

Fame and wealth don't provide any immunity from the perils of speed.

The sports world was shocked earlier this month from the news that Atlanta Thrashers forward Dany Heatley, just 22 and the NHL's rookie of the year in 2002, had been charged with vehicular homicide.

Police estimate he was driving his Ferrari at about 130 kilometres an hour on a narrow twisting road when it crashed. Passenger and teammate Dan Snyder, 25, died later in hospital.

Speed is an attraction, admits Ryan Hartshorne, a 17-year-old high school student in Winnipeg. "Most teenagers would rather drive faster than the speed limit, but you've got to follow the rules."

Hartshorne says quite honestly that he isn't always the safest driver on the road. "Sometimes yes and sometimes no."

But speed isn't the only problem.

David Goodman, 15, who's anxiously awaiting the chance to get his own driver's licence, agrees that some teenagers are a problem on the road.

"They horse around with their friends and they don't think before doing something stupid in the car, like drinking and driving or talking on the cellphone," says Goodman.

"Just yesterday, I think it was, a person was talking (on the phone) with one hand and holding a Coke in another hand and driving at the same time."

Transport Canada figures for 2000 show there were 400 teen deaths and 30,000 injuries on the roads.

Most provinces in Canada now have some form of graduated licensing system in place to try and reduce the threat teen drivers pose to themselves and others. Graduated licences require longer training periods and impose a variety of restrictions on new drivers, such as limiting the number of passengers or night driving.

"You've got to get these kids early, because they've got their futures to think about," says Ramsay Huska, senior driving education co-ordinator at the Manitoba Public Insurance Corp.

"Unfortunately, some of them don't."

You may think graduated licensing is a pain, but studies in Ontario and Nova Scotia, which have had the system for almost 10 years, suggest it works.

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation reported a 24-per-cent decrease in total collisions among 16-year-old drivers in Nova Scotia during the first full year alone and 37 per cent over the first three years.

Manitoba has had graduated licensing for only about a year, but preliminary studies already indicate a 30-per-cent reduction in accidents among this age group.

Groups like Teens Against Drunk Driving also have sprung up at Canadian high schools to fight one cause of accidents.

Graduated licensing programs usually incorporate a zero tolerance rule on alcohol for first-year drivers, but Goodman, who belongs to a TADD at his school, says it should last longer, perhaps three years.

Some parents use programs like the I Promise Program and Tell My Mom to help supervise when their kids are out in the family car. This means a decal goes on the vehicle with a toll-free phone number to call to report unsafe driving.

I Promise, run by social worker Gary Direnfeld out of Dundas, goes further by getting parents involved in a formal contract with their teenager that sets out rules for both.

"They have to be role models," he says.

WINDOW DECAL

Decal on the back of a car is designed to keep teens - and their parents - driving safely.

When his own son was about to get behind the wheel, Gary Direnfeld decided he needed something more than a high-school driver education course to keep him safe on the roads.

Not only are car accidents the leading cause of death for teens, but U.S. studies suggest they equal the next four - homicide, suicide, cancer and heart disease - put together.

Direnfeld, a social worker from Dundas, took a look at what was available and decided he could do better.

He came up with the I Promise Program, which has been available in Canada and the United States for nearly two years now.

"It helps parents and teens negotiate rules and expectations for the safe use of the car," he says.

They sign a formal contract that sets out rules for both sides. A decal is affixed to the rear window, showing a toll-free number anyone can call if they spot the vehicle being driven unsafely -- so it covers both parents and kids.

"If anyone in the community can make a report on your driving, you drive with a heightened sense of awareness and responsibility," says Direnfeld.

There are other programs which offer the same kind of connection to a toll-free phone line, such as Call My Mom. They're modelled on the commercial tip lines many trucking companies have used for years to keep tabs on drivers.

But Direnfeld says he believes the program he developed is better because it actively involves parents.

"They have to wear their seatbelts, they have to refrain from cellphone use while driving if they want to have their teens act similarly. Plus, it helps the parent and the teen negotiate things such as maintenance of the vehicle, costs, etc."

Without really marketing the program, he says he has signed about 175 young drivers and their parents in 14 states and three provinces - Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario.

So far, the toll-free number has received on one call, from the Ottawa area.

"The report was: 'Perfect driving.'"

ON THE WEB

Here's where to go for more info on safe driving:

I Promise Program www.ipromiseprogram.com

Tell My Mom program www.tell-my-mom.com

Tips for parents www.drivehomesafe.com

* * *

"Most of them are careful drivers (but) some of them don't really care. They drive fast."

-- Carrie Allard, 15

"I think it depends on the person and what they choose to do . . . if you're going to (drink), be responsible, be the adult you can be, give someone your keys, get a DD (designated driver)."

-- Krystal Scharf, 16

"Everybody's got their driver's licence now and there's parties every weekend, some times during the week. They don't really care any more because they've got their licence, they've got a vehicle."

-- Jessica Coutu, 18

"I think they have less experience; their reaction time is a lot less than older drivers who have more experience. They can judge the lights better and how fast cars are going."

-- Laura Webb, 17

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

(905) 628-4847
garydi@sympatico.ca
Teen safe driving: www.ipromiseprogram.com
Parenting:           www.ipromiseprogram.com/gary/direnfeld.htm

Gary Direnfeld is a social worker and expert on matters of family life. He is in private practice (Interaction Consultants), writes and provides workshops and is the developer of the "I Promise Program" - teen safe driving initiative. Search his name on GOOGLE.COM to view his many articles or click on either of the above websites. Feel free to call him for your next conference and for expert opinion on family matters. Courts in Ontario consider Gary an expert on child development, marital and family therapy, custody and access recommendations and social work.