Thursday, November 4, 2010

Safe Teen Driving Promoted Through New Programs

Car crashes account for the No. 1 way teens die. Several driving programs in Broward aim to curb that statistic.
BY EILEEN SOLER

SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD

If the number of teenagers killed by disease were as epidemic as the number of teens who die in car crashes, millions would pledge to find a cure.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that motor vehicle crashes, the No. 1 cause of death for teenagers, account for one in three teenage deaths nationwide.

Last year in Florida, 153 teens were killed in car crashes. So far this year, the teen death toll is 116.

During the past three weeks in Broward and Miami-Dade, five teens -- three age 17 and two age 18 -- died in automobile wrecks.

``We need legislation, but while we wait for that to happen we have to teach defensive driving,'' said Michael Rouse, Toyota's vice president of philanthropy, at a recent Toyota Driving Expectations defensive driving weekend for teens.

About 300 licensed teens and 400 parents turned out for 12 free driving sessions in the parking lot of Outdoor World in Dania Beach.

Toyota put the teens behind the wheel on courses that required them to do wrong so they could learn how to make it right.

With professional drivers in the passenger seat, the teens weaved through a slalom, drove at high speeds then slammed on the brakes, and allowed themselves to be distracted by cellphones, water bottles and other things.

``The biggest issue is distracted driving. Kids think they are invincible, so they do many things when they should be just driving,'' said Karen Polan, the program manager.

Of 33,808 traffic fatalities last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation blamed 5,474 on distracted drivers and called the problem ``an epidemic.'' Cellphone use was blamed for 995 of the deaths.

While kids learned safe driving, parents learned about common teen driving mistakes and got tips on how to be role models, coaches and mentors for good driving habits.
``Our goal is one goal only. That is to save lives,'' Polan said.

On Tuesday, 400 teenagers met in the auditorium of West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines to mark National Teen Driving Safety Week. The assembly, sponsored by the Broward school district and Florida Highway Patrol, gave kids a chance to hear the facts behind teenage crashes and the heartache it leaves behind.

Kyle Dailey, curriculum specialist for Broward Schools Driver Education Program, said teens are inundated with information and warnings about safe driving: Billboards, television commercials, school assemblies and their parents provide constant reminders.

Broward Schools offers free driving classes to about 9,000 teens per year at the county's 15 public high schools. Registration for the next session begins Nov. 1.
``But some of you listen and some of you don't,'' Daily told the teens. ``We're hoping that you all hear us so when it comes to making a crucial decision, you make the right decision.''

The message hit home for some students when Arielle Konen, president of the school's Key Club, recalled the death by car crash last year of West Broward High senior Christina Chaiken, 17.

``It's a real problem that we all have to deal with, like it or not,'' Konen told the students.

Some listened with heads in their hands and tears in their eyes when Donna Uzzi of Coral Springs spoke. Uzzi's son, Anthony Almonte, 16, died Nov. 15, 2009, after homecoming night at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Also killed in the crash were two of his classmates, Robert Nugent and Sean Maxey, both 16. One friend survived.

So far this year, teen deaths by car crash is showing a decline, but John Pisula of State Farm Insurance said much can happen before the year ends.

``Fall is the deadliest season for teen drivers and October is the worst month of all. Kids are back to school showing off their cars, we have homecoming and football games . . . guys soup up their cars, put the seat back and blast their stereo,'' Pisula said.

Pisula said he was struck personally by the tragic deaths of Kevin O'Connell and Ian Guckian, both 18, who were killed in an early-morning crash Oct. 5 in Miramar. Pisula is a friend of the parents of the boys, who were best friends.

Miramar police said the driver lost control of the speeding car, hit a tree, went airborne and slammed into a house. It was unclear who was driving.
Robert Schnell of Parkland, a retired Broward Sheriff's Office deputy and volunteer ambulance driver whose son, Michael Schnell, 17, attended the Toyota event, said a course in teen defensive driving should be mandatory. Michael's mother, Cindy Schnell, agreed.

``The more teenagers learn, the less chances they will take and the more careful they will be -- the less foolish they will be,'' Cindy Schnell said.

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