Posted on 05/19/2006 8:32:12 PM PDT by devane617
May 18, 2006
Albany -- There is talk of raising Georgia's driving age to 17 or 18.
Why? Because so many teenage drivers are killing themselves-- and others. Six thousand teen fatalities in the United States last year. The biggest threat to their well-being seems to be distracted driving. So what can we do to protect them from themselves?
Teens behind the wheel give new meaning to multi-tasking. Phones, CD players, and friends, distract young drivers-- who can least afford it.
Stephanie Phillips has, not one, but two teenage girls. 16-year old Amore is already driving. and 15-year old Charity is just beginning. Stephanie worries about driving distractions. "They're young and they're carefree, and nothing can happen, they think."
They think, but they're wrong. "The accident rate has been basically off the scale." Bill Hammack is the continuing education director at Albany Tech and is in charge of the driver's education program. "They lead the pack when it comes to, statistically, more of them get injured and killed than any other category of people that drive in the United States."
Every day, he and his instructors try to convince teens the importance of focusing on their driving. "Driving is a full-time endeavor, not something that you can pay attention to part of the time. You've got to be on top of the game all the time when you're driving."
In Albany Tech's driver's ed classes, students spend 40 hours learning the rules of driving. "Most of them, believe it or not, know how to drive. The big challenge is getting them to pay attention to what they're doing when they're driving," says Hammack.
What they're doing when they're driving, he says, is the problem. "Cell phones, I-Pods, changing CDs in their dash player, all those things are big distractions."
Big distractions that worry Stephanie Phillips. "The thing is not getting so caught up in the fun activities going on in the car with your friends, you know, the radio going, the dancing.
So, like many other parents, she has rules. "Seat belts are a must for every person in the car. No speeding. Be off your cell phone, which I think is probably one of the hardest to abide by."
And she's right. "With the cell phone issue, I mean, I answer my cell phone because it rings, and my cell phone is, like, my life," said Amore'.
"Cell phones are right at the top of the list. Or, right now, it's called distracted driving," said Hammack. Distracted driving that we, as parents, are partly responsible for. "I think we have failed. We have not built that pay attention factor into driving because we've been guilty of it ourselves."
So what can be done to make teen drivers safer? "Senate Bill 226 states all 16 year olds must have completed driver's ed before they can be licensed in the state of Georgia," said Hammack.
Beginning January 1st, driver's ed classes will be mandatory to get a Georgia license. "If they don't understand the hazards and how to recognize them, they're never going to be in the position to minimize those hazards or avoid them altogether," he said.
Avoiding hazards is something Amore Brock knows about. "You gotta be aware of that and be aware of your surroundings because anything can happen even if you're doing everything right."
And everything right includes buckling up. "It's just standard, you know. It's seatbelt on and you know if the person beside me doesn't have it on I make sure they have it on," says Charity.
Right now, there are more than 4,000 14 to 16 year olds in Dougherty and Lee Counties alone. They'll soon be on the roads, driving. That affects us all. That's why it's up to us all to help them. "Everyone that comes in contact with these youngsters has got to make them see somehow that the hazards are there and those hazards are 'gonna bite you if you don't accept responsibility as an adult driver," says Hammack.
Adult driving responsibilities that may one day be reserved for adults. "I can see the driver's age, if things don't get better soon, maybe going to 17 or 18 years of age before they're even allowed to drive."
If that happens, Georgia will become the strictest state in the nation for teen driver's licenses. A law change that won't affect the Brock girls, but it could well be the key to saving young drivers' lives.
"I hit a lady one time going about 5 miles an hour. She was fine and moving around the whole time, but when the officer came, she kicked off some part that was already broken and then also asked my insurance company for buckoo bucks for "treatments."
Your other posts suck but this one is funny as heck.
Well, do you know what I see? Parents who buy them a car as soon as they can get a license, so they don't have to drive their kids around!!
Used cars are incredibly cheap, compared to the percentage of income they used to represent.
I know of one family who got their athlete son a "hardship" license at 15 so he could make all those practices and could maintain a girlfriend. He ran into a bank at night in the fog (this in a state that does not allow night driving until 17)--break my heart. Wooden cross on the bank and a "in remembrance" on the back window.
The parents don't like all that driving they'd have to do. The parents like the early driving ages.
Harsh, you bet. But I have a fourteen year old daughter, and the thought of her driving in the next two years scares the heck out of me.
I was nineteen and let my sixteen year-old brother drive the car for a few blocks in our quiet neighborhood. Needless to say, I found out why my mom had been so scared of me just a few years previously.
I can't stand it when people are using a cell phone while driving. I've been in too many close calls (no pun intended) with many who haven't been paying attention. Of course, there are other ways drivers don't pay attention, but the cell phone thing just keeps getting more rampant.
Darn I reread it.
I thought you had said some "old lady" had kicked off one of her parts that was already broken.
I was thinking a pedestrian.
Your other posts suck but this one is funny as heck.
WTH??? Howso? And on a post on which I wasn't even trying to be funny.
I try to stress the idea of paying attention all the time, not only to what they are doing, but to what others on the road are doing, too. We almost got creamed once by a guy running a red light, so I make a point to tell the kids not to jump right out when the light turns green; they need to look both ways several times in case someone was speeding to try to make the yellow light, but it turned red before they got there, but they kept going anyway. So many dangers out there, especially here in MA because there are just SO many cars on the road.
They may have thought we were worse then them and they may have been right but I definitely see a decline. Imagine a world of Paris Hiltons and Kevin Federlines... and there we go.
16 or 60...the first couple of years are a learning experience...changing the age won't change that.
In my Florida neighborhood it was Golf Carts. They had the right-of-way and most drivers were 80+.
Heck in Korea, it was anything. Even cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bikes were on the sidewalks if that was the most convenient way and YOU were expected to get OUT of the way as a pedestrian.
"Darn I reread it.
I thought you had said some "old lady" had kicked off one of her parts that was already broken.
I was thinking a pedestrian."
Sorry, since I thought I was complimenting you, I thought I could throw in the suck comment.
I just made a clumsy mistake, didn't mean anything by it.
They may have thought we were worse then them and they may have been right but I definitely see a decline. Imagine a world of Paris Hiltons and Kevin Federlines... and there we go.
True. But with age, the great majority of my classmates have turned out pretty good and are contributing members of society. I have seen many around here go through "growing pains" in recent years who have grown up to become responsible adults. But of course, there are many who don't as well.
I was sort of funnin' with you too. You haven't seen some of the really dumb posts I can do--especially when I get in a dumb mood and start firing out the one-liners and puns. That's partly why I was wondering. I thought I was getting better since my comments were "sucking" without me even trying to be stupid. Dang.
Agreed. My wife got her license pretty late in life and I got a few grey hairs from that too. Nonetheless, she has been in less accidents than me, though she demolished a poor sapling in a parking lot one time. It was hurt from limb to limb.
They did it in MA. Kids get a Jr. Operator's License at 16 1/2 until they're 18, and with that they can only drive between 6am and midnight. It annoyed friends of mine whose kids had crew practice at 5:45 am because they'd still have to get up and take the kids who were not yet 18.
One of them got so mad he ran the stopsign just about hitting me and then turned back around and accosted me right by my apartment. He wanted to fight me. I stood there dumbfounded that someone who should know better was willing to come to blows over HIM disobeying the law. I regained my wits and despite being confident that I could win a fight, told him that running a stopsign was a basic traffic rule and that he had broken it. Then I turned aroudn and walked off leaving him fuming. But then again I can make people mad too. If someone flips me off, I usally sit and laugh at them. Not always the best idea...
But yeah, even the most mild-mannered person can sometimes become a demon behind the wheel.
Yeah, and if you notice, they all seem to look up or way to the side when they are on it.
I learned all about driving at high speed, controlled and uncontrolled skids, tearing around corners, backing up at 40 mph, donuts, popping the clutch, speed shifting, blowing out U-joints, dropping trannies and wrecking in a ditch. This was in the days before seat belts. I highly recommend it. No old stodgy drivers' ed. teacher will teach you the things I learned.
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