Father of Reid S. Hollister, age 17, a driver, who died in the early morning of December 2, 2006, the result of a one-car accident on the evening of December 1, at Exit 34 on Interstate 84 East in Plainville, Connecticut

Author:

• HIS FATHER STILL: A Parenting Memoir, a memoir about the obligations of a parent in the year following a teenage driver's sudden death; manuscript currently being reviewed by publishers. (My agent is Joy Tutela of the David Black Literary Agency, New York City, [email protected])
  
  
• "A Father's Awful Lesson in Risk," New London Day, March 2, 2008
  
  
• "A Safer Road to Driver's License," Hartford Courant, July 13, 2008
  
  
• "Teenage Drivers Require Close Supervision," Hartford Courant, December 8, 2009
  
  
• "Tips From Reid's Dad" � advice for parents, currently being distributed at several Connecticut driving schools
  
  
• Outlaw Distracted Driving -- Not Cells," Hartford Courant, Oct. 24, 2010, page C5
  
  
• Electronics Fee Driving Key To Safety, Hartford Courant, Dec. 29, 2011, http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-hollister-ban-all-electronic-use-by-drivers--20111229,0,1701206.story
  
  
• (Fall 2013) NOT SO FAST: Parenting Your Teen Through the Dangers of Driving.
  
  
• "Teen Driver Laws Need Further Tightening," Hartford Courant, Nov 30, 2012


• "Sometimes There Aren't Enough Candles," Hartford Courant, December 29, 2012


• "Fatal Distraction: Teen Drivers And Passengers Are A Deadly Mix" Aol Autos, March 13, 2013


• "Ban Use Of Electronic Devices By Drivers," Hartford Courant, May 31, 2013

Member of Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell's Teen Driving Task Force, December 2007 to June 2008 (Final Report); Co-Chair of Legislation Subcommittee, contributor to drafting of Public Act 08-32 (Public Act 08-32)

Television:

• Connecticut Public Television, "Town Meeting: Teen Driving," April 15, 2008, hosted by Diane Smith
  
  
• "Inside Out," April 2009, West Hartford Community Television, hosted by John Bonee
  
  
• " Hopeworks," West Hartford Community Television, May 2010, hosted by Cruger Phillips
  
  
• WFSB (Connecticut CBS affiliate), December 2, 2011, http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo;=default&clipId;=6529232
  
  
• Better Living Television, 2011, shown on WE and Food Networks, http://www.betterlivingtelevision.net/parentingsub19.html
  
  
• Safe Kids, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, October 2012
  
  
• �Raising America, with Kyra Phillips,� CNN Headline News, March 2013


• Connecticut Children�s Medical Center/Kohl�s Stores public service announcement, May - June 2013

Radio:

• Public Service Announcement on Connecticut's new teen driver laws, broadcast 600 times on Connecticut commercial stations, August � September, 2008
  
  
• Interview, WCBS Radio, New York, April 2008, by Fran Schaido

Speaker:

• Stonington High School, Stonington, Connecticut, March 2008
  
  
• Conard High School Parent Organization, West Hartford, Connecticut, April 2008
  
  
• Glastonbury High School, September 2008
  
  
• "What I'm Feeling Like, Dad, Is To Borrow the Car Keys": My Experience as a Bereaved Parent Helping Rewrite Connecticut's GDL Laws," The Lifesavers Conference, March 30, 2009, Nashville, Tennessee (Lifesavers Conference)
• Watertown High School, Watertown, Connecticut, May 2009, with State Senator Rob Kane
  
  
• Watkinson School, Hartford, Connecticut, January 2010 and May 2011
  
  
• Fall Meeting, National Organizations for Youth Safety, Arlington, Virginia, Oct. 18. 2011
  
  
• Yale- New Haven Hospital, Pediatric Trauma Unit, Nov. 16, 2011
  
  
• Lauralton Hall School, Milford, Ct, April 2012
  
  
• "How To Engage Parents In Their Teen's Driving," June 16, 2012, the 30th Annual Lifesavers Conference, Orlando, Florida


• Connecticut SafeKids Conference, Nov. 2012


• Griffin Hospital, Safe Teen Driving Program, April 2013

Liaison from Governor's Task Force to Chief Court Administrator on educating judges and prosecutors on Connecticut's new laws, 2008

Participant in Mourning Parents Act (!MPACT), which brings to high schools a message about the dangers of teen driving and the consequences for families of accidents and fatalities, 2009

Father of Martha Hollister, age 21: Department of Motor Vehicles Teen Advisory Group 2008-09; !MPACT Speaker, Plainfield High School, Plainfield, Connecticut, May 20, 2009

On December 2, 2006, my seventeen-year-old son, Reid, the driver, died in a one-car accident. On a three-lane Interstate highway that he probably never had driven before, on a dark night just after rain had stopped, and apparently traveling above the speed limit, he went too far into a curve before turning, then overcorrected, and went into a spin. While the physics of the moment could have resulted in any number of trajectories, his car hit the point of a guardrail precisely at the middle of the driver's-side door, which crushed the left-side of his chest.

• Safer teen driving starts with informed, conservative decisions about whether teens get behind the wheel of a car in the first place. Teaching teens to operate a vehicle safely is Step 2.
  
  
• Driving is the leading cause of death for people under age 20 in the United States.
  
  
• Safer teen driving is everyone's concern. In 2010, nearly 2,000 teen drivers died, but their crashes killed more than 3,000 passengers, other drivers, and pedestrians.

At recent national traffic safety conferences and events, I have gotten to know Jaime Alvis, Director of Government Relations and Traffic Safety �for The Century Council, a national association of distilled spirits companies. I have come to understand, appreciate and applaud their IKnowEverything Program, which focuses on drunk and distracted driving.� In connection with National Teen Driver Safety Week, I am pleased to pass along the following information about �the program:...