Teaching safe driving habits
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Teens are climbing behind the wheel as licensed drivers in Chesterfield at a rate of about 300 per month. When they get their driver's licenses, many teens see that as the end of their education, but that piece of paper doesn't ensure the holder is a good driver.

"It takes a good five years before you become a good driver," said James Lowery, driving instructor at Cosby High School.

In Virginia, one in five students crashes a vehicle within months of receiving a driver's license. Education and practice both before and after a license is obtained can reduce the crash rate for teens.

The most hazardous times for teens to drive are between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., on weekends, to and from school, and during rush hour traffic. Teens should practice driving after dark because people are twice as likely to be involved in a fatal crash at night as during daylight hours.

A study of 5,665 ninth through eleventh grade students across the country conducted by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Co. showed teenagers are regularly confronted with distractions including rowdy passengers and the use of electronics. This contributes to the thousands of fatalities each year.

Ninety percent of teens surveyed said they rarely or never drove after using drugs or drinking, as evidenced by the 34 percent drop in teen traffic deaths involving alcohol from 1990 to 2005, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

Chesterfield Police Sgt. Clint Schott said that most crashes are caused by distracted driving. He has sat outside high schools and watched the kids pour out of the parking lots after the last bell. Many are talking, eating, making cell phone calls -- anything but concentrating on their driving.

Schott said parents need to be better role models for teens when they are driving by staying off cell phones and leaving the radio alone.

"Watch what your teens are doing when you are with them," he advised.

"Parents have all the power," he added.

Parents have the legal right to turn in their teen's driver's license to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles if their behavior, attitude, grades or actions don't measure up.

Rosalie Ashcraft, in-car coordinator for Chesterfield County Public Schools' driver education program, said she gives her students "What would you do if..." scenarios, but admits that it is a challenge to keep students' attention.

"If we can save one life or prevent one injury," she said, it makes all the instruction worth it.

"I would love to have more advanced equipment. There is something called a skid monster that can be used at a range. We would have to get a grant to purchase it," Ashcraft said. It would help teens learn how to pull out of an uncontrolled skid.

"Kids are more educated today. They don't respond to the fear tactics that were used for years," said Lowery of the driver education program.