Teen driving, of course, is not a laughing matter but deadly serious business. Still, when someone uses humor in way that makes several critical points in memorable fashion, we cannot ignore it. Thus, for parents who want to laugh while also considering what kind of example they are setting for their teen drivers, I highly recommend the You Tube link below, a Saturday Night Live skit that was broadcast November 7, 2009. When you stop laughing, make some notes about your own driving.

First, thanks to so many of you who have contacted me through this blog. Among recent messages was this:

If you had asked me last week what type of job my wife and I are doing to protect our teenage drivers, I would have said, so far, better than most. Ask me the same question today after reading your blog, and I would say: not nearly enough.

Thank you. That’s why I’m doing this.

Some of your e-mails have presented difficult but common situations, and asked for advice. I will take the liberty on occasion (without attribution, of course) of relaying these inquiries and my responses.

A mother, divorced for several years from the father of her newly-licensed 16-year-old daughter, asked what she should do now that her ex-husband has bought the daughter a car. These parents live in the same region – close enough for their daughter to commute between their homes by car – and are in regular communication, but the father apparently did not ask for the mother’s consent before buying this car. I assume that the father’s thinking was that a car will better enable the daughter to spend time with each parent.

I offered the mother two pieces of advice. The first, even though the car has already been purchased, was to bring to her ex-husband’s attention the recent State Farm / Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia study, linked in my recent post “A Different Top Ten List,” showing that teen drivers with their own cars have higher crash rates than those who depend on shared cars. Second, I suggested that the mother download a parent-teen driving contract and that all three of them discuss it, agree on it, and sign it ASAP. (Parent-teen contracts will be the subject of my next post.)

This mother describes a situation that obviously adds to the complications of divorce. The car purchase may well force the daughter into more driving than she is ready to handle. Though her driving between each parent’s home might be considered “purposeful” in the sense that she will have a clear destination, route, and arrival time, and thus might be considered less risky than a joy ride, will she be driving under stress? Could shuttling between parents constitute distracted driving? Also, one parent surprising the other who has custody by buying a car for their new teen driver raises a question about which parent is overseeing driving privileges and safety. Finally, it would seem that in this situation, the purchase of the car might be characterized as at least one parent putting convenience ahead of safety.

Overall, this family’s circumstances calls for even greater caution and conversation, with decisions about the daughter’s driving to be made day-by-day and on a case-by-case basis.

[for additional information about the STANDUP Act, go to www.saferoads4teens.org]

November , 2009

The Hon. Christopher J. Dodd

United States Senate

448 Russell Building

Washington, DC 20510

Re: H.R. 1895, The Safe Teen Driving and Novice Driver Uniform Protection (“STANDUP”) Act

Dear Senator Dodd:

I write to join thousands of parents and auto safety experts in urging you to re-introduce in the U.S. Senate the STANDUP Act, to use federal financial incentives and sanctions to prod states to adopt minimum national standards for their safe teen driving laws.

I write from searing personal experience and a two year odyssey of education about teen driving. My son Reid, 17 years old, died in a one-car accident on Interstate 84 in Plainville, Connecticut in December 2006. In December 2007, Governor Rell appointed me as a bereaved parent to Connecticut’s Teen Safe Driving Task Force, which she formed in the aftermath of several horrific teen driver and passenger fatalities. The Task Force was charged with thoroughly reviewing Connecticut’s graduated driver laws (“GDLs”). Serving on that Task Force, I immersed myself in the facts of teen driving and learned what the mainstream literature available to parents barely discloses: that driving is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for people under age 20, far surpassing suicide, disease, and other types of accidents; teens have crash rates three times that of older drivers; strict GDLs (supplemented by public education and enforcement) are a proven, effective way to reduce teen driver crashes and fatalities; and yet, across the nation, teen driver laws vary widely, with many states dragging their feet even while voluminous research points clearly toward the benefits of stricter teen driving laws.

Connecticut’s Task Force, I am proud to say, helped transform our state’s teen driver laws, previously among the weakest in the country, into one of the strongest. A state-sponsored public awareness campaign followed our new law’s August 2008 effective date, and 2009 is now shaping up to be the safest year ever for our state’s teen drivers. The STANDUP Act will induce every state to follow this lead, to amend its GDLs to reflect the significantly higher crash rates of new, young drivers.

My immersion in teen driving during 2007-08 led me in October 2009 to launch a new national blog for parents of teen drivers, entitled “From Reid’s Dad,” found at www.fromreidsdad.org. My goal is to provide parents with better information about teen driving than appears in most of the information available from motor vehicle departments and commercial driving schools. In trying to raise the information level nationally for parents, my blog is consistent with the goals of the STANDUP Act. In the blog’s first two weeks the enthusiastic, national response has further convinced me that the time is right for comprehensive, national GDL standards.

The federal government should be a strong partner with the states when it comes to saving lives and preventing injuries, and teen driving laws present an appropriate situation for federal intervention: a documented public health and safety crisis; a proven, low-cost solution; an enforcement mechanism through federal highway funds; and a track record of successful similar interventions (seat belts, drunk-driving laws, and child safety seats). The current patchwork of, and variations within, state teen driving laws is public policy madness that the federal government has the power and ample reasons to rectify.

Federal involvement invariably generates complaints in certain communities about states’ rights, unfunded federal mandates, and infringements on individual freedoms. Recently, a City Councilman in Cheyenne, Wyoming, arguing against that City’s ban on use of a hand-held cell phone while driving, was quoted as saying, “If I’m driving down the road, minding my own business and talking on my cell phone, leave me alone.” The fallacy in this statement is its assumption that a driver engaged in conduct that is demonstrably dangerous is “minding his own business.” Teen driver crashes affect everyone and should therefore be the concern of every driver throughout the nation on every road, every day.

The U.S. Senate needs to join the House and provide leadership on this issue. Too many lives are at stake. As a constituent of yours for 25 years, as a bereaved parent, and as a concerned driver and citizen, I urge you to be an energetic, articulate, common sense voice for this essential legislation. Thank you.

Very truly yours,

Timothy S. Hollister