100 Deadliest Days.

by Wendy Tepfer Community Parent Center 

"Spring is an exciting time for teens. It is the season for proms and graduations, the school year is ending, and summer vacation is just around the corner. The carefree days of summer can create a false sense of security for teen drivers; the fact is, they should come with a warning. Parents must talk to their teens about safe driving practices. If parents have already had this conversation with their teens, then now is a good time to reinforce the issues and their expectations. Automobile crashes are the number one killer of teenagers in the U.S., more than cancer, heart disease and AIDS combined. (statistics by AAA) Every year about 6,000 teens die in car crashes. That’s an average of 16 teenagers a day. More than 300,000 teenagers are injured every year in these crashes, and teens are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as other drivers. (Allstate Foundation)

May has been designated National Youth Traffic Safety Month (NYTSM) in an effort to raise awareness about driving issues among teenagers and their parents. NYTSM was launched by National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS) in 2007 to encourage teens to conduct safe driving projects during the month of May. May was chosen because Memorial Day kicks off what has been dubbed "100 Deadliest Days for Teens". The 100 days between Memorial Day and Labor Day are historically among the deadliest for teen drivers, this is when the number of teen driving-related injuries and deaths increase dramatically. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, based on data collected between 1996 and 2006 that tracked the number of deaths in crashes involving drivers ages 15-20:

Twenty-one of the top 25 deadliest days of the year fell between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The top three deadliest days were: June 14, July 3, and August 8

The top three deadliest months were May, July and August, -accounting for 29 percent of all deaths.

Experts say that the first year of unsupervised driving is the most dangerous, so making sure teens are safe on the road is challenging. Driver error, speeding, passengers and distractions are the main causes of teen crashes, and can significantly impair a teen's ability to react quickly to changing traffic conditions.

Parents should not take anything for granted, make no assumptions and expect the unexpected when it comes to their teens’ driving behaviors. This is a crucial time for education, awareness, and smart decision making. Allstate Foundation suggests signing a parent-teen driving contract: an agreement between teens and their parents, stating that they will abide by ten safe driving practices to promote responsible driving and the consequences for not abiding by them:

• Practice as much as possible
• Always wear seatbelts—driver and all passengers
• Limit number of passengers
• Never drink and drive
• Obey speed limits and all other posted sign, signals and markings
• Limit night-time driving
• Do not use cell phone for talking or text messaging
• Avoid distractions—no eating, drinking, adjusting the radio or climate controls
• Drive a safe vehicle
• Drive with the right attitude

The Parent Center urges parents, school districts and communities all over the Long Island re-enforce smarter and safer driving practices for our youth during these “100 deadliest days”. Automobile crashes can affect anyone, but teen drivers suffer the heaviest burden from traffic injuries, whether from tragic early death or from long term disability that may affect the rest of their lives. Driving is a privilege, not a right. When teens are handed the keys to a car, they are being given the responsibility for their safety, the safety of those who ride with them and those who share the road with them."

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In order to highlight this issue, I will attempt to post a crash-related articles through this period of 100 days. By the end of the stretch, I hope those who view this blog will at least 100 more reasons to evaluate their driving habits, and to pay increased attention while on the road. While most campaigns that discuss "100 Deadliest Days" focus on teenagers, these blog posts will include people of all ages and from different places.