News & Articles National Teen Driver Safety Week National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW) will soon be here on October 16-22, 2011. This year's theme is supporting parents in teaching their teens to drive. According to new research from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), 87 percent of teens report having a parent involved in learning to drive. In fact, 4 in 10 teens report ONLY being taught by a parent. Other recent CHOP research suggests that although parents can identify the basic concepts teen drivers need to learn (such as "parking the car"), they tend not to mention the more advanced skills proven to cause teen crashes, such as scanning for hazards. The ART of Driving has long advocated that parents are pivotal to the learning-to-drive process for teens, but they may not always have the tools and knowledge they need to be effective. Please visit The ART of Driving website to learn the specifics of what parents can do to keep their teen driver safe. Better yet, invite The ART of Driving to speak at your parent group, school or church group. Let's help support parents during National Teen Driver Safety Week. ______________________________________ The Ashley R. Thompson Memorial 2011 Scholarship was awarded to Emily NEMEC The foundation, through our founder Robin Thompson, just awarded the 2011 Ashley Renee Thompson Memorial Scholarship to Emily Nemec. Emily is a senior at Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia and will be attending the University of Virginia in the fall. She plans on pursuing a degree in engineering. Emily is an extordinarily well rounded young woman who exmplifies all the characteristics the foundation looks for: Academic excellence, community involvement, and a big heart. We are pleased to be able to present this scholarship in Ashley's honor to Emily and wish her all the best in continuing her passion for life. Please help us continue this scholarship by your generous contributions. You can make tax free contributions via our web site. We warmly thank you in advance. ______________________________________ Kaiser Permanente Recognizes The ART of Driving in Winter 2010 KPeople Issue: ART of Driving founder, Robin Thompson, RN, was interviewed by Kaiser Permanente for their Winter 2010 issue of KPeople. Latest research states that health care providers are in a key position to address this national health crisis by discussing the unique risks faced by young drivers with teens and parents, and by sharing prevention strategies with them. Health care provides have made great strides in other areas of health promotion and wellness such as smoking cessation and drug and alcohol abuse awareness. Similar efforts can be made in teen driver safety. Read the complete article and share it with a health care provider you know. ______________________________________ Parents are Key in keeping their Teen Driver Safe: If a disease were claiming 6,000 teen lives each year there would be no end to what we would do as a society or as parents to stop that. We have to ask ourselves why losing that many teens to vehicle crashes every year is not causing a public outcry for change. Is it that what for the most part is a preventable tragedy is considered by many to be inevitable? Parents play a key role in keeping their teen driver safe. A survey by the Allstate Foundation found that the majority of teens felt their parents were most influential in encouraging safe driving practices. The survey also found that parents talk to their children about drugs, alcohol, and safe sex at a much earlier age than they discuss safe diving. Parents need to talk to their children about safe driving practices and model those practices. Even when children are in car seats they see adults talking on cell phones, eating, drinking a latte, and changing a CD. This sends the message that distracted driving is acceptable. In addition, when a consequence does not occur from such actions, the perception of risk is decreased. Certain driving situations place our youngest drivers at greater risks. These include driving at night, with other teen passengers, when fatigued, and when unbelted. Graduated Driving Licensing (GDL) laws address most of these issues by restricting nighttime driving and teen passengers. However, most parents are not familiar with such laws or the risks of such behaviors. Only 45% of parents felt that having friends in the car put their teen at risk (Allstate Foundation). The majority of fatal teen crashes happen between 9 p.m. and midnight. However, only 16% of parents surveyed by the Allstate Foundation felt driving at night put their teen at risk. Teen drivers have the lowest rate of seat belt use; a rule parents need to enforce. Drowsy driving related crashes are more common in young people and pose a significant risk for novice drivers. Being awake for 18 hours produces the same impairment as a BAC of 0.05. One just has to look at a teen's daily schedule to see how this can be a problem. Early start times at high schools, after-school activities and jobs, and academic demands all make for a long day. Many over-the-counter and prescription medications can negatively affect a teen's driving ability. A simple antihistamine for allergy or cold symptoms can pose a problem. Once armed with knowledge and facts parents are in a better position to guide, monitor, and restrict their teen driver. The ART of Driving is here to help parents gain the knowledge they need to keep their child safe. The ART of Driving, along with current research, advocates for all teens to have a written driving agreement with their parents/guardians. Taking the time to sit with your teen and discuss your expectations, rules, and consequences for not following those rules sends a clear message that you care, take this process seriously, and want to keep him/her safe. Your teen may not show it, but your involvement means a great deal to him/her. Nothing keeps a teen safer than knowing they are loved. ______________________________________ A message from our Founder: October 18-24, 2009 is National Teen Driver Safety Week. This is a perfect time for schools, companies and families to bring attention to the issue of teen driving safety. Together we can keep our young novice drivers safe!
The ART of Driving hopes all teens and parents take this responsibility seriously. We want to help you help your teen driver. Contact us today to request a presentation at your school or community organization. Together we can make a difference! Drive Safely! ______________________________________ 2009 Ashley Renee Thompson Memorial Scholarship Awarded... The Ashley Renee Thompson Memorial Foundation is pleased to announce the 2009 recipient of Ashley's scholarship. This is the sixth scholarship to be awarded, and the decision is always a challenging one. We receive many applications from deserving young ladies but always one stands out! This year's recipient is Sarah Morehouse. Sarah is a senior at Lake Braddock High School in Burke, Virginia. She will be attending William & Mary College in the Fall. Sarah is a young lady who has been dedicated not only to her academic pursuits, but also to a sport she loves, as well as to her community. She has persevered through set backs and disappointments to arrive at a place where she is stronger and wiser for the experience. Her ability to see the positive in life's circumstances and to refocus her attention and goals demonstrates great maturity. She not only exemplifies Ashley's qualities and characteristics, but the pillars of this organization that was founded in Ashley's honor. The foundation wishes Sarah much success in her future endeavors. ______________________________________ ART of Driving Receives Governor’s Award The ART of Driving is proud to announce that is has been awarded the 2009 Governor’s Transportation Safety Award for Youth Traffic Safety in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The award, based on strides made by the organization in the area of teen driving safety, will be formally presented in Virginia Beach on August 12th 2009. The ART of Driving has reached thousands of teens and parents during the past year and its Teen Task Force has been very successful in empowering teens to take the pledge to not only be safe drivers but, safe passengers as well.
_____________________________________ New Jersey Gov. John Corzine Signs New Teen Driving Law On April 15th, New Jersey became the first state in the nation requiring teen drivers to display a decal on their vehicles. Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed into law Kyleigh's Law, named after Kyleigh D'Alessio, a 16-year-old Long Valley resident who was killed in a December 2006 car crash involving a teen driver. The law takes effect May 15th, 2010. Gov. Corzine has first-hand experience with driving crashes. He was involved in a car crash that broke 15 of his bones in 18 places. He lost half his blood and spent eight days in intensive care with ventilator breathing for him. All because he wasn't wearing a seat belt. Watch his PSA here at YouTube. So while New Jersey has recognized the critical importance of identifying new drivers on the road through use of a decal, you don't have to wait. Just pick up a CAUTION - NEWLY LICENSED magnetic bumper sticker at the Safe Teen Driving Club website.Give your teen -- and other drivers -- a better chance at safe driving. ______________________________________ Driving Age Again in News The driving age is once again an issue in the news. In other countries, including Germany, France and most of the EU, Brazil, China, Japan, Russia, South Africa and the Australian state of Victoria, teens can’t be licensed until the age of 18. Our neighbors to the North in Canada still hold with most US states at 16 years old. New Jersey stands alone in the US with minimum licensing at 17, while South Dakota is at 14-1/2. According to the IIHS.org status report of September 9th, “A basic question is whether the risk associated with beginning drivers stems from their youth and immaturity or [their] inexperience. If it’s mainly immaturity, then it would pay to put off licensure until teenagers get a little bit older. But if the problem is mostly inexperience, then delaying licensure would simply put off the toll of beginner’s crashes [to an older age group].” Many studies have been done dating back to the 90’s that try to separate these two factors. One Canadian study concludes that 16 year old teens, especially girls, had higher rates of injury crashes than older teens who had the same amount of behind the wheel experience. Another 11 studies also focused on driver age and inexperience. Based on these studies, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concludes that “new drivers who are 16 years old have higher crash rates than older teenagers who are also new drivers.” So it seems that research supports raising the driving age to reduce the crash rate. During 2008 several states introduced legislation to raise the driving age, yet none have passed. Legislators face resistance from parents who, according to Dr. Anne McCartt, “…may know that putting off licensure is good from a safety standpoint, but at the same time they’re impatient to get out of the business of chauffeuring their kids from one activity to another. They often believe their own children will be safe drivers, and they may be disinclined to disappoint their kids, many of whom want to get their licenses as soon as possible. For these and whatever other reasons, parents haven’t made a big push to change the licensing laws,” McCartt says. We finally have research to back-up what many of us already know, the driving age should be raised. A question that needs to be asked is why are we, as a society, still so resistant to the idea? Are we really willing to put convenience before safety? A thought we may all want to ponder.
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