SACRAMENTO – After spending years protecting your children from all sorts of dangers on the road and off, you now face the prospect of handing them the keys to the family car. It’s time for them to learn how to drive. Are you prepared? The CHP wants to help you mold your young adult into a safe and capable driver.
Traffic collisions are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the United States. ln response to this troubling fact, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) has partnered with lmpact Teen Drivers with a shared goal, to change the teen culture and make distracted driving intolerable. The year-long traffic safety campaign continues through September.
“Enforcement alone is not the answer – education plays an equally important role in keeping California’s teenage drivers safe,” says Commissioner Farrow. “We encourage parents to get involved by talking to their teen driver about the rules of the road and by being good role models behind the wheel.”
The teen driver program is designed to provide awareness and education to teenagers, their parents, teachers and community members about distracted and reckless driving. The ultimate mission of this partnership is to reduce the number of injuries and deaths caused by distracted driving and poor decision making by teenage drivers.
“lt is crucial that we educate teens and empower them to make good decisions behind the wheel,” said Kelly Browning, Executive Director Of lmpact Teen Drivers. “It is primarily through this cultural change that we can eliminate the number one killer of teens in America – reckless and distracted driving.”
lmpact Teen Drivers communicates an educational message to teenage drivers using plain language and relevant messages. Most importantly, the program inspires teenagers to commit to being a responsible driver.
The grant-funded Teen Distracted Drivers Education and Enforcement III campaign consists of an education component, as well as teen distracted driver enforcement operations to be conducted throughout the state. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Visit the NHTSA website for resources on teaching your teen to be a safe driver.
Click here for additional resources for teen drivers.
“The mission of the California Highway Patrol is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security to the people of California.”
Sadly motor vehicle accidents are not only the #1 killer of teens, but are the #1 killer of humans ages 2-40, causing more deaths than cancer, heart disease, and there are accidents literally every second of every day, with more and more people being totally distracted, not paying attention, in a hurry, on the phone/internet, etc. My motto is Arrive Alive. If you’re like me and have been in a really bad car crash, you finally understand and realize that there is not one thing, no email, text, call, or rushing worth losing your life in a car wreck over.