At the end of the day, who has the last say?

When did it happen? When did we say it was
"ok" for coaches or band or drama directors
to run our children's lives? Often when I go
to church on Sunday and I listen to our
Pastor he talks about priorities in families.
His message is about the need to make faith
a priority in our children's lives because
often times games, or productions or what
have you, take priority over going to church
or participating in youth programs. I see it
every day when we have parents that sign
their teens up for driver training and get
totally frustrated because they can't find
enough time in a week to get "everything"
done. They can't make a class because their
football practice runs for six hours on a
Saturday or the coach called a last minute
practice and if the student has other
priorities and doesn't come - they'll get
kicked off the team. Really? Is this what
we want for our kids? The question keeps
coming up for me - why? Why do we, as their
parents, continue to allow this to happen?
Is it that we think they have a shot at a
sport's scholarship for college, or they
might make it in the big leagues, so we think
it's necessary? Or are we living vicariously
through our children and watching them out on
the field makes us feel good. What is it
that drives this behavior?



What concerns me most is the short cuts
parents take in order to "allow" this to
continue to happen. While I recognize the
need for students to be involved in
extra-curricular activities - must it take
over their lives? We know for a fact that
motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause
of death for teenagers, but when push comes
to shove do we choose sports practice over
driving practice, band camp over driving
lessons? Are we putting our kids out on the
road with little to no training and even less
practice because other things got in the way?
I am writing this article as a thought
provoker. Is this really what we want for
our kids? Have the coaches and directors
gone too far? If so, how do we get back to
what really IS "in the best interest of our
children?" How do they stay involved, but
also gain balance and focus on what is really
important? Parents, this is our job. Do you
really think that football, baseball,
basketball, cheer, band, drama, golf - you
name it is so critically important that it
MUST take precedence over anything else in
their lives? If this is how prioritizing
happens at this young and impressionable age,
what chance do they have for achieving a real
balance in life when they become adults and
one-day parents? Is this frenzied life what
we really want for our kids? I would welcome
dialogue on this topic.

Not paying attention

The other week I was driving down Baseline Rd. The light in front of me went from red to green so I kept at my same pace of 45mph without having to slow down or stop. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a young boy start to cross the street, but there was a truck to the right of me so couldn't tell if he stopped at the light or continued crossing. It wasn't his turn to walk, he just did, not paying attention to the oncoming cars. He was in his own world just talking on the phone and listening to his Ipod. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him pass the truck and had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him as did the other cars to my right and behind me. He just stopped, looked at me and continued walking like nothing happened. His lack of regard to his surroundings could have caused a major wreck. Luckily it didn't.

Just goes to show that whether you're behind the wheel or walking in the crosswalk, to always be aware of what's around you. Had I just been looking straight ahead in front of me, something catastrophic most likely would have occurred.

If you've had experiences you'd like to share, post back.

Teen Gets Jail Time for Texting...and Driving

Apparently the British are a bit harder on drivers who text than the US. Just recently, 19-year old Rachel Beggs was driving AND texting when she rear ended 64-year old Maureen Waites, almost killing her. The crash caused Waites' car to spin out of control and hit a barrier. The crash was caused by Rachel's repeated use of her mobile phone (9 times in the 15 minutes leading up to the accident) while driving 70mph in the dark.

It was her irresponsible behavior that sentenced her to four long years in prison. Looks like she learned the hard way...to keep your eyes on the road (not on your phone) at all times.

Do you think the US should enforce this on all drivers who are caught texting or talking on the phone and cause crashes?

Is a Camera in a Teen's Car Helpful or Distracting?

It's a new pilot program that allows cameras to be
placed inside a teen's car just below the rear view
mirror. The extra eyes let teens actually "see their
mistakes" when driving and captures events
happening before and after a car crash occurs. Once
the camera captures the "event", it emails it to the
parents to review with their teen driver.

University of Iowa researcher Dan McGeehee states
the videos provide a reality check to over-confident
beginning drivers.

"This really shines a spotlight on their own driving and
they can see themselves that they made some
mistakes," McGeehee says.

McGeehee took 25 drivers who fell into two groups,
those who drove "well" and rarely triggered the
cameras (about three times for every thousand miles
driven) and those who triggered it a lot (nearly 19
times for every thousand miles they drove). After
seeing themselves, the riskier drivers improved by
90%.

Teens in Minnesota are the first to test the program,
although American Family Insurance is ready to get on
board. It hopes to take the program to a national
level.

DrivingMBA wants to know if you think having a
camera in your teen's car will help them become
better drivers or become a distraction to them. Some parents may feel that these cameras provide just enough driver training for their teens. What do you think?

Teen Was Texting at Time of Accident

It happened in Lewiston, Idaho this week. A teen was texting while driving in a car full of passengers. A VERY dangerous combination. I see two things wrong with this picture - one - that she tried to text message while driving which we know takes our eyes off the road and two - that other teens were in the car with her. What was so important that whoever was on the other end of her text message needed to know right then and there? We will never know. She lost control of her vehicle on the highway. One passenger is in critical condition after experiencing a ruptured spleen and the other suffered a concussion.

Two states mentioned in the article have already implemented a ban on cell phone usage while driving...Washington and Utah. Idaho hasn't favored this restriction and come to think of it, neither has Arizona.

I'm not saying that teens are completely at fault for talking on cell phones or texting while driving. We are all guilty of doing it at one point or another and we need to stop. After all, what's more important? Putting you and others on the road in danger to have a conversation or getting to your destination alive? You be the judge.

Yield to Bicyclists

Time and time again stories appear in the news of bicyclists enjoying a leisurely, scenic ride only to have to swerve far right for cars to avoid hitting them. Some make it home safely while others are not so lucky.

In a recent newsletter, I told the story of Bob. Bob was part of a team of bicyclists out on a Sunday morning ride in Phoenix when a young man struck him and continued driving. Bob was transported to the hospital, put on life support and died shortly after. He left behind his wife and children. In a split second, life had changed for both Bob and this young man. It could have easily been avoided had this young driver known that bicyclists do in fact have the right of way.

The driver failed to stop, drove home immediately and his parents advised him to "cover up" his truck. With the help of witnesses who were able to identify the truck's license plate, this is now deemed a criminal case.

If you don't know the rules when it comes to sharing the road with bicyclists, please remember that they have just as much right to be there as you do. DrivingMBA has a wealth of information on bicycle safety as do the AZ Coalition of Bicyclists. In fact, it'd be wise for all of us to revisit bicycle safety both as a driver or a bicyclist enjoying a scenic ride...

Governor Napolitano Approves GDL for Arizona

Last month, we learned that Governor Napolitano approved the bill to strengthen the graduated drivers' licenses(GDLs) in Arizona. This piece of legislation is referred to as the Teenage Driver Safety Act. Since its inception, DrivingMBA has supported efforts to change legislation and adopt a stronger GDL in Arizona. It has finally come to fruition. Stats show a significant decrease in teen deaths among states that have adopted GDLs. When Arizona signed the bill, there were already 44 states that had beat us to it.

Some argue that it's not the legislator's or law enforcement's responsibility to track teens' driving...it's the parents. While I don't disagree, parents are ABSOLUTELY the first line of defense. Parents need to set rules for teens to follow, however, this issue requires effort from many different angles. Parents, strong legislation, and better education and training are all necessary components. Parents, legislation, law enforcement, educators working together enforcing the passenger and night time restrictions will stop the devastating trend happening in this country. It is my strong belief that together we can truly make a difference.

I'm anxiously waiting to hear what other parents such as myself have to say. Feel free to comment back.

How to make your teen a better driver

I came across an interesting article on MSNBC titled "Study: Extra training helps teens avoid crashes" that says that teaching teens how to avoid crashes will make them safer drivers. Imagine that. By teaching teens how to react in emergency situations, we're making them better drivers. The article goes on to say that trained students have a powerful advantage over untrained drivers when it comes to out-of-the ordinary situations such as adverse weather conditions or erratic drivers.

When we send our teens out on the road, we hope and pray that they've learned enough to know how to react in situations. The problem is, they don't. They lack experience and most have only been trained on the basics of driving - how to start, stop, move the vehicle and park - not what to do if someone or something swerves in their lane or their tire blows out.

Simulation-based driver training shows teens how to react in these situations over and over again in a safe, controlled and supervised environment so that when they do encounter a situation, they know firsthand how to handle it. Will this type of training help decrease our teen driver fatalities each year? The study says "YES".

To read the study, click here.

Drivers on cell phones are as bad as drunk drivers

Cell Phone Usage While Driving

Is It As Dangerous As Drunk Driving? Psychologists Agree.

It has been a debate that has gone on for some time now - whether to ban cell phones while driving. DrivingMBA asks the question, “Is cell phone usage as dangerous as drunk driving on the road?” Utah psychologists, the National Safety Council and others around the nation say yes.

A study that garnered the media's wide attention showed that drivers who talk on hand-held or hands-free cellular devices, or worse yet, text messaging, are as impaired as drunken drivers. Results stated that talking on the phone leads to a 30% reduction in reaction time. Text messaging, according to the National Safety Council, takes a driver’s eyes off the road 40% more often than if the driver was not texting.

“We found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on the cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit,” said Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Utah. “If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving.”This study didn’t just analyze teens, it stated that all drivers, novice or experienced, become easily distracted while driving and talking on a cell phone. It is not the actual cell phone in hand that’s the distracting part, but the conversation itself.In order for legislators to ban cell phone use while driving completely, certain steps need to occur.

If you're interested in making a change, team up with others in your community and contact your local congressmen.

To read the complete study on cell phone usage while driving, click here. To read more articles about teen driving, click here.

It's Crazy Out There - What Chance Does a Novice Driver Have?

I have a short comute to and from work everyday, so when I do get out on the "big" streets I am shocked and appalled at the driving I see going on out there. Just last week I was driving in downtown Phoenix and watched a pedestrian, crossing the street, in a crosswalk, when the light changed on him. The poor man was scurrying across the street and SUV's were coming across the intersection honking their horns at this poor man. His life was literally in danger. That same day I was entering the 101 Loop when I watched a white bus cross over the gore area and nearly push a sedan off the road. The driver must have decided they DID want to get onto the freeway and those in my way "be damned." These are only two stories of many I hear day in and day out from colleagues, friends, students, you name it!!

Now think about putting a young novice driver out there with these agressive drivers, fast roadways and even faster vehicles - what chance do the REALLY have? Do parents or even driving instructors take their teens out on streets and put them in all of those precarious situations and teach them how to handle them? I think not, it's far too nerve racking, not to mention dangerous. So, how do these young people learn? The Driver Education system in the United States is failing our teenagers. Some states are better than others, but on the whole and on the average we are still teaching teens to drive the way we did 50 years ago. Things have CHANGED!! The roadways we drive on are more complex and move much faster, the vehicles we drive are much more sophisticated than the vehicles we drove 30, 40 or 50 years ago. When boomers were learning how to drive we had sensory feedback - wind noise, shaking, rattling and rolling was going on. The vehicles we drive now are made to eliminate all of that unpleasantness. So now we can be going 30 MPH or we can be going 80 MPH - we really don't feel the difference. Now, put a teenager behind the wheel - do you really think they will be able to react in time if something out of the ordinary happens? The answer is NO. The data is CLEAR. We have a problem in this country. Teenagers are dying every day in vehicle collisions.

Think of it this way - when we hand our teenagers the keys to a vehicle today, we are handing them a 2,000 to 4,000 lb. projectile with 35 to 40 lbs. of explosives and we're sending them out there with a hope and prayer that WHEN they do get in their first collision, and they will, it will only be a fender bender. We need to do better than that!

So, what is the answer to this problem? We at DrivingMBA, think we are PART of the solution! We have 3 years of experience utilizing state of the art simulators to teach teenagers the fundamentals of driving and advanced defensive driving skills. Our preliminary results (interviewing our students after 1 year) are indicating that we are improving their odds significantly. While the national average of novice drivers getting into a collision their first year on the road is >50% our graduate students are averaging < 12% getting into some kind of collision their first year. While we know we can't guarantee they won't have a collision, we know we can improve their odds.