Parents: Talk to teens about driving

October 15, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — For years, public service announcements warned parents to talk to their teens about alcohol and drugs. Now, a new campaign encourages parents to bring up something seemingly more benign, but ultimately more deadly: driving.

“We start talking early about alcohol, drugs, tobacco and sex, and all those are critically important,” said Dr. Mary Aitken, medical director of the Injury Prevention Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. “But for some reason, we haven’t engaged in that series of conversations ... that you need to have about the No. 1 killer of teenagers. It’s disheartening.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, car crashes are the No. 1 cause of death for teens, killing more than 4,000 nationwide each year. In Arkansas, 71 teens died in car crashes last year, officials said Wednesday. A new campaign being tested in Arkansas and Columbus, Ohio, encourages parents to talk to their teens about safe driving and to establish rules for their teens who get behind the wheel.

“In the past, I don’t think we really understood what we could do to make it safer,” Aitken said. “We know now that reducing the number of teen passengers in the car, reducing those distractions, and then limiting some of those more dangerous roadway situations can make a tremendous difference.”

Among the campaign’s recommendations for parents:

USet a good example for the teens by wearing seat belts, driving safely and not speeding or talking on cell phones.

UTalk to the teen early and often about safe driving, and emphasize concern for the child’s well-being.

UUnderstand and enforce Arkan-sas’ new graduated driver’s license program, which limits nighttime driving and sets restrictions on how many passengers a teen can have in the car.

UEnforce the rules with a parent-teen driving contract.

Officials also praised a series of measures passed last spring by the legislature, including a primary seat-belt law and another that bans texting while driving. Aitken said she expects those laws, along with the graduated driver’s license program, to significantly cut the number of teen driving deaths in the state.

Steve Powers, the health and safety chairman for the Arkansas PTA, urged parents to talk to their kids about safe driving. He said that last year, his son, Daniel, was in a body cast for nine months after their vehicle was rear-ended by a drunken driver.

Daniel, now 12, can walk and may be playing basketball this fall. Powers, who is from Harrison, Ark., said he plans to talk to his kids regularly about safe driving — and to do his best to set a good example for them.

“My kids already correct my driving from the back seat,” he said. “Sometimes, my child will say, ‘Dad, you’re going too fast,’ which really makes me think they’re watching me.”