WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Helping Teens 'Survive the Drive'

Helping Teens 'Survive the Drive'

By Maggie Wade
maggie@wlbt.net

It's the devastating knock at your door or the phone call no parent ever wants to get. Each year in this country thousands of teenagers die in collisions. Law enforcement officers say many of these accidents could be prevented if teen drivers follow a few simple rules of the road.

Within two months three teenagers died in accidents in Rankin county. In November, a brother and sister were killed on their way to school at Northwest Rankin. In December a 15-year-old passenger died in this crash. The teenage driver has spent weeks in the hospital.

Speed is believed to be a factor in both of these deadly crashes. Captain Eddie Rhodes with the Rankin County Sheriff's department teaches teenagers to be better drivers.

"Speeding and inattention is one of the two biggest things for wrecks today, especially with our kids," Rhodes said.

Rankin County is the only county in Mississippi that offers a defensive driving class for teenage drivers. It's called C.A.T, or Collision Avoidance Training. Parents push some to attend the two day course, others are ordered by the courts because of violations.

Captain Rhodes is one of the instructors.

"We go through some evasive turns, the correct braking procedures -- everything from how to hold a steering wheel correctly to how to sit correctly in the vehicle," he said. 

In addition to the classroom work, the teenage drivers actually get behind the wheel. Captain Rhodes says the teen drivers are amazed with what the learn.

"We go out to the police academy and do a hands-on driving for about 8 hours, and we put up courses to work on steering and decision making," he said.

According to national teen driving statistics, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers. Sixteen-year-olds have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age. Sixteen-year-olds are three times more likely to die in a motor vehicle crash than the average of all drivers. In 2006 almost 3500 drivers 15 to 20 years old died in car crashes.

In a survey the Allstate Foundation found 69 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds said they speed to keep up with traffic. Sixty-four percent said they speed to go through a yellow light. Forty-seven percent said passengers sometimes distract them.

All can cause collisions.

Deputy Don Bryant understands what parents go through. He wears a wrist band with the names of his three sons who are serving in Iraq.

"So many times over the last 28 years I've had to go to accident scenes, and over 100 times I've had to knock on a door in the middle of the night and tell a parent that their child would not be home again," Bryant said.

Debbie Brown is a board member for C.A.T. She is also a parent whose teenage daughter has had several accidents.

"My daughter had two serious wrecks," she says. "They could have been fatal. When I was researching this program, there wasn't anything in the state of Mississippi like it."

It's also important for parents to communicate with their kids, emphasizing the importance of wearing seat belts and limiting cell-phone use when they're behind the wheel. Drivers should never text message.

Parents also feel the pain of teen driving in their wallets with insurance costs. The estimated economic impact of accidents involving teen drivers is over $40 billion a year.  

Between 25 and 30 percent of teen drivers will have a crash within the first 12 months of getting their driver's license. Alcohol and drugs are not the leading cause of teen crashes; inexperience is.

Another alarming statistic for Mississippi: Almost 80 percent of drivers 16 to 20 years old involved in fatal accidents were not wearing seatbelts.

For more information on the Collision Avoidance Training with the Rankin County Sheriff's Department, call (601) 825-1480 or visit http://collisionavoidancetraining.googlepages.com/home.