CLOSE CALL PROMPTS MAN TO ACT

by Cory Hare  - February 2005

After nearly getting blown off the road by a reckless young driver, social worker Gary Direnfeld got mad.  Then he got creative.

His pivotal moment came four years ago on a busy stretch of highway between Toronto and his home in the Hamilton suburb of Dundas, Ontario.

"I was passed by what looked to be a very young driver in a Camaro," he says, "and he almost blew me off the road."

After he regained his composure, Direnfeld noticed a decal on a nearby truck with an 800 number for reporting poor driving.

"I thought, gee what I’d really like to do is phone that young guy’s parents," he says.

"And then I thought, gee-whiz, my son’s going to be a driver soon. What if he was driving like that? How would I ever know?"

THE I PROMISE PROGRAM      www.ipromiseprogram.com

Direnfeld’s answer was the I Promise Program – a two-part plan to promote safe driving.

Part 1 - Vehicle decal

Inspired by the "how’s my driving?" decals commonly seen on commercial trucks, Direnfeld designed a decal for parents to stick on the family vehicle with a toll-free number allowing motorists to report reckless driving.

Direnfeld contracted a call centre in Brantford, Ontario to handle the calls.

Part 2 - Safe-driving contract

Direnfeld also designed a safe-driving contract for parents and teens. In signing the nine-page document, teens and parents promise to:

• Drive sober & drug free
• Wear seat belts
• Drive defensively
• Keep mind on the road

DOLLARS & CENTS

The I Promise Program originally cost $49, but sluggish response prompted Direnfeld to remove the fee in March 2004.

Direnfeld reports more than 200 downloads a month since he removed the cost, whereas the program drew just 175 clients in its first three years.

In that time only one call came through the toll-free number -- a report of perfect driving in Ottawa. Direnfeld dropped the 800 number and the call centre from his program in March 2004. 

Clients can still download a sign for their car, but the new version simply has a space for their own phone number.

The updated focus of I Promise is the safe-driving contract, which remains unchanged.  

SON SIGNS UP

Direnfeld’s son Brennan was one of the first participants in the I Promise Program. He didn't exactly turn cartwheels.

As a novice driver he wasn’t allowed to listen to the radio or carry a passenger. It wasn't always easy, but he lived with the rules, he says. 

"If I was going out with my friends I couldn’t drive anybody in my car ... kind of annoying, but I had to deal with it," says the 20-year-old.

As his skills grew, Brennan was allowed one passenger. After a year he was allowed another.

Now in his second year at Wilfred Laurier University, Brennan has never crashed and says he understands why his parents restricted his driving when he was younger.

"I didn’t appreciate it at the time," he says, adding, "It probably helped me out in the long run."

YOUNG DRIVERS AND BRAIN INJURY

Gary Direnfeld started the I Promise Program partly to avoid seeing his son in the morgue. He also wanted to avoid seeing him at work.

Direnfeld spent most of the 90's working with brain injury victims. He says he saw dozens of young people whose futures were instantly changed by crazy or poor driving.

"I would see young folks, who would be described to me as wonderful young people, who could now barely tie their shoelaces," he says. "They’d be learning to walk. They’d be learning to talk."

ALCOHOL NOT LEADING CAUSE

Though driving sober and drug free is one of the promises in Direnfeld’s program, impaired driving isn't his biggest concern.

"Alcohol is not the leading cause of crashes in the novice driver - speed, risk-taking and inexperience is," Direnfeld says.  He says young drivers don’t understand the risks they take.

"They don’t have the same sense of danger that an adult will, and that’s in part because they don’t have the experience."

"He probably didn't like [the rules], but the flip side is he's never crashed a car and he's still alive."  Gary Direnfeld

Parents need to be at the forefront in the battle to get kids to drive safely, Direnfeld says, which is why his safe-driving contract holds parents to the same standards as their kids. 

Direnfeld knows first hand that kids don’t like restrictions, but he’s unapologetic about the rules he imposed on his son.

Contact:

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.yoursocialworker.com

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. Courts in Ontario, Canada, consider Gary an expert on child development, parent-child relations, marital and family therapy, custody and access recommendations, social work and an expert for the purpose of giving a critique on a Section 112 (social work) report. His opinion helps resolve child custody and access matters. Feel free to call him for your next conference and for expert opinion on family matters. His services include counseling, mediation, assessment and assessment critiques.