According to a new Harris Interactive survey commissioned by DaimlerChrysler, nearly two-thirds (63%) of parents indicated a driving related concern as their biggest concern for their teens on prom night, including drinking and driving (32%), car crashes (23%) and reckless driving (8%).
Overall, parents of teens worry most about driving safety and motor vehicle crashes. DaimlerChrysler’s Road Ready Teens (www.roadreadyteens.org) program offers simple steps for parents to implement at home to help ease teens into driving. A Free program features StreetWise Version 2.0 — an online video game that allows teens to experience high-risk driving scenarios — and easy-to-use guide for parents.
Overall, teen driving safety continues to be the top concern for parents of teenagers. Compared to other health or safety risks, such as pregnancy, suicide, drug or alcohol abuse, nearly half (43%) of parents of teens ages 15-18 point to driving safety issues as their primary worry — referencing driving safely and motor vehicle crashes.
Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens. More than 450,000 teen passengers and drivers were injured and more than 5,500 died as a result of vehicle crashes in 2005. In fact, one third of all 16-year-old licensed drivers were involved in a motor vehicle crash in 2005.
To help keep teens safe during prom and graduation season, DaimlerChrysler offers the following safety tips for parents:
— Take your teen out of the driver’s seat and consider alternate transportation (public transportation, taxi or limo) for the evening.
— Require your teen and all passengers to always buckle up.
— Limit the number of passengers with whom your teen drives.
— Remind teens to take extra care when driving at night.
— Insist that your teen obey all the rules of the road, including never speeding.
— Remember that the legal drinking age is 21. Insist that your teen never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or ride in a car with friends who are under the influence.
Research shows that 50 percent of fatalities that occur with a teen at the wheel happen after dark, even though most teen driving occurs during daylight hours.
Teen drivers, ages 16 and 17, driving with even one teen passenger are 50 percent more likely to be involved in a crash than when driving alone. With two teen passengers in the vehicle, the risk more than doubles. With three or more teen passengers, it’s nearly four times more likely that teens will be involved in a crash than if they were driving alone.
According to the DaimlerChrysler survey conducted by Harris Interactive, parents also expressed concern over teens’ lack of experience with driving. Sixty-four percent (64%) believe that the most common risk factor for teens as it relates to car crashes is the fact that they simply do not have enough experience behind the wheel.
Chrysler Group’s Road Ready Teens (www.roadreadyteens.org) program offers tips and tools for parents to help ease teens into driving, including a free guide that outlines how to set and enforce driving rules at home. Based on research and principles advocated by the nation’s top safety organizations, the program’s tips and tools help teens gain the necessary driving experience and maturity behind the wheel before tackling high-risk driving situations.
The research behind the Road Ready Teens guidelines has been shown to reduce crash risk by nearly one-third. Many of the recommendations that underpin Road Ready Teens have been applied to graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws enacted in most states. However, no state law includes the entire slate of guidelines, which includes a zero tolerance policy for alcohol and drug use, mandatory seat belt use for teens and their passengers, and requires teens to obey all of the rules of the road, including never speeding. States with the strongest GDL laws have seen reductions of teen crashes of up to 25 to 35 percent.
As part of an innovative online public education effort to reach teens with critical messages about driving safety, DaimlerChrysler has released a new online video game, StreetWise Version 2.0. The game uses the latest advances in Internet gaming and graphics to allow teens to experience high- risk situations in an entertaining, safe, virtual environment. In the game, teens learn critical lessons about the consequences of making high-risk decisions while behind the wheel.
Road Ready Teens provides teens with safe driving resources in a method that is most likely to attract their attention. Survey results from the study conducted by Harris Interactive indicated that educational materials geared toward driving safety are most likely to catch teens’ attention if presented in the form of a DVD/video (63%) or a more interactive medium like a Web site (61%) or a video/computer game (54%).
To raise awareness of safe driving among teens during prom and graduation season, DaimlerChrysler is sponsoring an online sweepstakes featuring StreetWise Version 2.0. Teens will be able to play StreetWise Version 2.0 and enter to win prizes. The sweepstakes will run from May 3 through June 14, 2007 at www.roadreadysweeps.com.
Road Ready Teens materials, including StreetWise Version 2.0, a Parent’s Guide and other resources, are available at no cost on the program’s Web site at www.roadreadyteens.org.
DaimlerChrysler Safety Programs
DaimlerChrysler is committed to keeping drivers and passengers safe when riding in motor vehicles. The Corporation has a long history of developing research-based education programs geared towards adults, teens and children to complement vehicle-based technology and raise awareness for automobile safety. DaimlerChrysler’s current safety programs address safe teen driving (www.roadreadyteens.org) and child passenger safety (www.seatcheck.org).
Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive(R) on behalf of GMMB from March 13 to 19, 2007 among 5,649 adults (aged 18 and over), of which 354 were the parent/guardian of teenager(s) aged 15-18. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the general population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
With a pure probability sample of 354, one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- eight percentage points. Sampling error for subsamples would be higher and would vary. However, that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and, therefore, no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
(1) National Highway Transportation Safety Administration; FARS, 2005
(2) Williams, A.F.; 2003. Teenage Drivers: Patterns of Risk, Journal of
Safety Research 34:5-15.
(3) Williams, A.F.; 2003. Teenage Drivers: Patterns of Risk, Journal of
Safety Research 34:5-15.
(4) Simpson, H.M. The Evolution and Effectiveness of Graduated Licensing.