Alive at 25 a Wake-Up Call for Young Drivers
1/17/08
Course Aims to Put Brakes on Teen Driving Fatalities
As if the vast uncertainty of parenting a teenager weren’t enough to stress a mom out, society has given us the added burden of teaching our kids to drive. It’s hard enough for me to feel like I feed my kids the right food, but at least they don’t sit at the kitchen table dipping their carrots in ranch dressing while traveling absurdly fast with a dangerous sense of immortality. Like anything to do with parenting, when it comes to driving I can teach them the best I know how, but ultimately I won’t be in the car with them for the rest of their lives.
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration statistics present a grim reality in which teenagers and young adults die in car accidents at twice the rate of the rest of the population. We all know teens seem to live on a magic youth potion that makes them feel invincible, and if I’m being Polly Positive I’ll acknowledge that this trait can serve them well by giving them confidence, high energy and even motivation. But the Nancy Negative in me knows that it also results in insanely crazy behavior. My dad lovingly refers to this and many other teenage incongruities as scrambled-egg brains.
All this is quite relevant to me right now, as I have a 15-year-old son who’s currently learning to drive. We recently attended an Alive at 25 course together that was an intense attitude-adjusting reality check in the form of a 4.5-hour defensive-driver course.
The program began in Colorado in 1996 at the prompting of the National Safety Council, and the Colorado State Patrol Family Foundation joined the Colorado State Patrol in refining the curriculum. In 2005, the program expanded beyond Colorado.
“We are very excited about the training we do nationally because we have an opportunity to increase the amount of lives saved through our message,” said trooper Joy Grissom of the Colorado State Patrol. “So far, we have instructors in California, Texas, Wyoming, Illinois, South Carolina, Washington, South Dakota, Kansas and Utah.”
The big payoff? While more than 88,000 students have taken the course in Colorado over the past 11 years, the Colorado State Patrol has only tracked 23 fatalities among its former students (as passengers or drivers).
How does Alive at 25 accomplish this? In lots of ways. Even with scrambled-egg brain, my son and other young people at the course were humbled by the graphic video presentations of fatal car crashes and the stories of people who had lost a family member in a senseless accident. At the course I attended, the state trooper who taught the majority of the class was very personable and made it clear to everyone that this was an opportunity for them to ask him any questions they might have. The officers also told personal stories about how each tragic accident they’ve seen has affected them, which seemed to make the biggest impression on the students.
Afterward, our drive home was filled with a long, positive “I love ya man” conversation that isn’t currently the norm with my teen. I was happy to hear that he came away knowing that he needs to (and can be comfortable with) standing up for himself when it comes to driving recklessly.
This year, the National Safety Council will roll out an Alive at 25 program for parents of young drivers that aims to help parents understand the risks facing their young drivers, help them set expectations, and strengthen their positive decision-making skills.
Comments
Amazing story and happy to hear that they are at least trying in CO to do something about the thousands dying & millions seriously injured on our roads each year. You would think by now other states would follow this course of training, I guess at this point in time it's not on their " top ten things to do" list, so meanwhile there are more and more people being killed on our roads. Very sad!
Thank you for blogging this maybe after people read this more people will start requesting this to their congress person in their state.
Good luck to you and your son may he stay safe on the roads!
Posted by: crash prevention | Jan 17, 2008 2:59:08 PM
Just wanted to clarify a couple of things...
1. Alive at 25 is a national curriculum from the National Safety Council. To find states where this curriculum is used go to: http://www.nsc.org/train/ddc/student/alive25.cfm, click on "list all locations".
2. In Colorado Alive at 25 is actually funded by the Colorado State Patrol Family Foundation, not the state government.
As far as texting and driving...
you can read our previous article about texting and driving at http://www.motherproof.com/2007/10/put-down-your-c.html - phoning and texting while driving is a serious distraction for all of us, not just teenagers!
Thanks for the comments :-)
Posted by: Emily | Jan 17, 2008 9:20:15 PM
You may want to check out Safeco's latest video, which is designed to inspire parents to encourage responsibility with new teen drivers. I think the message speaks directly to Emily's point that parents have a variety of methods available to help keep teens safe on the road.
Here is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_k8GIWUuBY
Posted by: Tera Randall | Jan 24, 2008 11:25:04 AM
As an instructor for Alive At 25, Everyday we get our heart broke with a fatal accident involving young people in that age group. Thank you for the article, I hope parents and local and state agencys get the point. We enjoy giving the message and we look forward to saving lives through our message. There is nothing I would rather do than teach our young people that we care about them.
Posted by: mike euglow | Jan 24, 2008 2:33:48 PM
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In the UK we have a lot to learn from Alive at 25 and other organisations dedicated to cutting the number of teens who die or are injured in accidents on the roads.
However, I don't think that all states have made driving whilst using a phone illegal; something we consider a major contributing factor to many accidents involving teens.
I urge all parents to support the no phoning/texting laws being introduced across America - they'll save many lives ; one might be your kid.
Posted by: driving course | Jan 17, 2008 11:59:34 AM