by
Adam Crisp
Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.
March 19, 2008

(Reprinted with permission of the Chattanooga Times/Free Press)

Mar. 19--Teenage drivers who speed pose an even greater danger to their passengers than to themselves, researchers say.

A six-year examination funded by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. shows 9,807 U.S. children between ages 8 and 17 were killed in vehicle crashes between 2000 and 2005. More than half -- 54 percent -- were riding in a vehicle that another teen was driving.

Two-thirds weren't wearing seat belts, and two-thirds of the deaths occurred while a teenage boy was behind the wheel, the study stated. Speed almost always was a factor in the crashes, with nearly 75 percent of them occurring on roads with limits over 45 mph.

The study appears in the March edition of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Researchers said their work is the first of its kind, but the findings don't surprise Leon Brown, a 28-year veteran driver's education teacher at Cleveland High School in Cleveland, Tenn.

"A couple of years ago my driver's ed class did a survey ... we stood outside at the end of the day and watched the kids leaving and counted the ones who had on their seat belts. About half wore them," Mr. Brown said.

"Most kids think it's never going to happen to them. Or they think they drive safe, but they don't think about everyone else on the road," he said.

Two students at Red Bank High School, Cricket Andrews and Sarah Wagner, recently won a first place Tennessee High School Press Association award for their documentary of a simulated crash involving teens drinking and driving. They said they see teens all the time who don't buckle up.

"It's just a trying-to-be-cool kind of thing," said Miss Wagner, who said she always wears her seat belt. "Most of the time kids don't wear them, unless you are in the car with your parents or something. If it's just a car full of teenagers, most of the time they aren't wearing them."

Riding with a driver between 16 and 19 carried double the risk of fatal injury, the study reported, compared to drivers over age 25. Two children died in every 1,000 car crashes involving drivers over 25. That compares to four deaths per 1,000 for the teen drivers, according to the study.

Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston, a doctor at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the study's lead author, said in an Associated Press story that the message for parents is simple and sobering: Don't let your teen ride with a teen driver who has less than a year's experience behind the wheel. Insist on seat belts. And practice ways teens can resist peer pressure to ride with other teens.

"Knowing the risks can help parents and teens make smart decisions about which rides are safe and which ones are off limits," said Dr. Winston, founder of the hospital's Center for Injury Research and Prevention, told the AP.

Area residents said driver's education is the best way to prevent deaths, but it is offered as part of the curriculum only in the region's smaller school systems. Mr. Brown said most of the students he saw wearing seat belts during his informal survey were the same students he had in his class a few years before.

"I think the driver's ed courses really make the difference," Mr. Brown said. "I take a unit in my class to show them the risk, to try to make it real for them."

Georgia requires 30 hours of driver's education to receive a license at age 16.

Records show fewer fatalities in the Peach State since that law went into effect. Chattanooga parents wanted their kids to get that same experience, David Roden, a parent who has fought for the driver's education curriculum. But Hamilton County schools leaders estimate it would cost $1.2 million to start a systemwide driver's education class.

"We're looking at a $12 to 13 million deficit for next year, so with increased graduation requirements we're focusing on the core classes," said Danielle Clark, Hamilton County Schools spokeswoman.

County students instead can opt to take a $150 course that is offered after hours at Central and Red Bank high schools, Mr. Roden said. That's cheaper than paying for the class outside the school setting, Mr. Roden said.

Mr. Roden said he would like to see an optional driver's education classes offered systemwide.

"The cars are like a loaded gun," he said. "We think the kids in Hamilton County need as much driving experience as possible."

The Red Bank students said their video brought classmates to tears, depicting an emotional crash site and a grieving mother. Mr. Andrews, a camera operator for the film, said students were more concerned about wearing seatbelts and driving safely after a student was killed two years ago.

The video was timed perfectly, with area proms scheduled for this spring, the high school seniors said.

"I don't do any of that (drinking), but if you listen in class it's more than half the high schoolers (who) do," Miss Wagner said. "With prom coming up it's probably going to get a lot worse."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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