Those of us who have raised teenagers will remember when they got their first driver's license. Emotions spanned from the joy of giving up carpooling to the fear of your child's safety. Last week the New York Times contained an article by Jane Brody, who writes an informative weekly Personal Health column for the Times, about teenage driving.titled For Teenagers, the Car Is the Danger Zone (you can read this article in the February 6, 2007 edition of the NY Times or you can access it online through our library's Newsbank database). This article contained several sobering statistics including the fact that automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for 16- to 20-year-olds. There are about 5,500 teenage drivers or passengers dying each year. Add to this the fact that about 450,000 adolescents are injured in automobile crashes and approximately 27,000 with injuries severe enough to require hospitalization.

The American Academy of Pediatrics offers several recommendations including safety first when you select a teenager’s vehicle and a driver contract for your teen to sign committing to such things as obeying auto laws and speed limits, driving only when free of alcohol and drugs, wearing a seat belt for each car occupant, never using a cell phone when driving and keeping both hands on the wheel. The Academy also suggests specific penalties for violations: and strict restrictions for the first six months including a ban on teenage passengers and no driving after 9 p.m., since inexperienced drivers cause more than their share of accidents

You may wsih to talke a look at such books as Crashproof Your Kids: Make Your Teen a Safer, Smarter Driver by Timothy C. Smith and Teens & Alcohol by Gail Snyder.

Some pertinent websites of interest include Safe Teen Driving Blog, Minnesota's StarTribune.com's article Could Teen Driving be Safer? and Teendriving.com.