Steering youths to safety
Promoting safe driving
among teenagers starts at home
Aug 3, 2003
Jeff Mitchell, Staff Writer
"Dad, can I borrow the
car?"
If those six words send chills up
and down your spine, take heart. There are ways to ensure both your child and
your vehicle make it home unscathed.
The key elements of keeping kids
safe on the roads are communication, preparation and trust, according to
experts.
Professional driving instruction,
combined with diligence and support from parents, can help kids gain and retain
the knowledge and good practices they'll need to survive York Region's teeming
roadways, said Ross Elliott, an instructor with Young Drivers of Canada.
"Keeping the road safe is
what I do," Mr. Elliott said.
And while he has made a career of
on-the-road instruction, Mr. Elliott insists it's up to parents to follow
through and reinforce the information their teenagers are digesting.
Good drivers are those who are
knowledgeable and confident, Mr. Elliott said. And the only way for young people
to become confident in themselves and their driving abilities is to get
behind-the-wheel experience.
It can be a trying experience, to
be sure.
"As a driver, you have total
control of the vehicle. As a co-driver, you have given up control."
Parents should be encouraging and
not push young drivers too hard, Mr. Elliott said. His method involves the
incremental introduction of challenges for new drivers: Start off in a parking
lot, then graduate to a quiet street. As the driver progresses, they move on to
busier thoroughfares, with traffic lights and competing traffic.
It's a good idea to take stock of
one's own driving habits and examine them for quirks that shouldn't be passed
along to new drivers.
"For the most part, a young
adult reflects how the parent drives," Mr. Elliott said. "What the
child does is a reflection of what the parent's been doing for the past 15
years."
Young Drivers does offer a
seminar for parents who will be strapping on seatbelts and riding along with
their children. In addition to training hints, they provide instruction on
evasive action -- taking control of the wheel, for instance, or shifting the
vehicle into neutral -- just in case.
But there will come a time when
circumstances, including the young person's licence status, dictate that you'll
be watching as your son or daughter backs the car down the driveway on his or
her own.
That's where trust and
communication come in.
Sometimes, a pact of sorts will
be appropriate.
Gary Direnfeld of Dundas, Ont.
has created the I Promise program, a safe driving initiative designed for
families with young drivers.
I Promise consists of a
parent-youth contract and a decal, which is placed in the rear window of the
family car, encouraging others to call the posted phone number if they observe
inappropriate behaviour on the road.
Parents promise to keep the car
in safe working order and act as suitable role models; young drivers pledge to
drive sober, wear a seatbelt and practice other sound habits.
Mr. Direnfeld established the
program as a response to the alarming number of fatal crashes involving
teenagers. He is of the opinion encouraging good driving habits and establishing
mutual trust will help prevent the risk-taking that leads to accidents.
"Teen drivers aren't
necessarily poor drivers, but they are prone to taking risks," he said.
"We still need to protect teenagers from themselves.
"Close to 400 teenagers lose
their lives annually in (traffic accidents) in Canada," he said.
Other organizations -- including
Young Drivers of Canada and Students Against Drunk Driving -- circulate similar
contracts.
"Our goal is not to catch bad drivers," Mr. Direnfeld said. "Our goal is to promote safe driving."
Gary Direnfeld, Executive Director
I Promise Program