# 112
“Rules of the Road”
IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray
May 19, 2012
With days remaining until tens of thousands of teenagers across Indiana finish the school year, it is tantamount to stupidity to avoid mentioning grim facts that are generally ignored by the media. Even the most cursory search confirms that the highest teenage driving deaths occur in June, July, and August — summer vacation. Now that proms are a memory and graduation ceremonies loom on the horizon, it’s time that parents and teens sat down around the kitchen table and really discussed the dangers.
This morning, as I listened to the radio, the timing for the column wasn’t lost on me. You see, a Hendricks County crash over the weekend took one senior’s life just days from graduation, left a second teen in critical condition and injured several others. It’s sobering, but true. Teenagers and cars can be a deadly mix on our highways.
It’s been fifty-plus years, but I was once a novice driver. However, I was required to do my “homework” and that included driving in bad weather, pulling and backing a two-wheel trailer among traffic cones and knowing to check the oil or add anti-freeze. Papa was fond of cars and in those days, many men took care of basic car maintenance themselves.
Add to this the firm sense of responsibility both in me and in my older brother by our parents, and our brother-sister duo began driving with a better background than most. Kids listened to their parents in those days and shuddered at the thought of having and accident and trying to explain it to them! Ah, yes, were days when parents held sway and their words were law. Oh, my, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Our family had just moved into a home that our folks remodeled. It had a large backyard that was over 200 feet deep and about 75 feet wide. Among the peach and cherry trees stood some really big maples. This scene was set for entry-level driver training. However, the star of the production was a little car seldom seen outside of rallies or auctions.
Enter Papa’s 1940s Crosley. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this little beauty, go to
After bolting immense men’s belts from a local haberdashery beneath the front driver and passenger seats, Papa turned us out in the yard — one at a time. It’s hard to describe the thrill as each one of us headed down that yard for the first time and made quick turns around the trees. What’s more, if we did manage to turn the car over on it side or top, it only took two or three of us to upright it and put the trainee back on the road. Those were days before seat belts in cars, so Papa was ahead of his time as he implemented his keen sense of safety.
We all looked forward to “Driver’s Ed”, but it didn’t hurt to have a bit of driving before you ever began to learn with a teacher.
Today, with the distractions of cellular phones, teenagers are far more at risk than their parents were at the same age. You’ve seen bad driving among adults, haven’t you? If you’re like me, you probably dodge people on phones every time you take to the road. I’ve even seen people with clipboards on steering wheels while using cell phones. Talk about dangerous!
The talking my generation did — on the home telephone — pales at what today’s teens do behind the wheel. It’s enough to make anyone cringe.
For every dream that the new high school graduate embraces, a nightmare lurks on the road. Understandably, teenagers do not consider themselves mortal. Oh, I’ve seen teenagers’ reactions to a sudden, violent death of a classmate. Unfortunately, those feelings are fleeting.
When you combine speed with any dangerous ingredient — alcohol, cell phones or texting — the result is no surprise. Things go south in a hurry.
These same behaviors, when mixed in a moving vehicle, conjure up a deadly mix. The highway safety research that I read confirmed that, even though teenage driving deaths account for only 6.4 % of the total driving deaths in the USA, they also account for 14% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes and 18% involved in police-reported crashes.
Considering that, nationally, homicide accounts for 14% of teen deaths and suicide 11%, authorities warn that no one hazard comes close to claiming as many teen lives as automobile accidents.
As this school year comes to an end, take the time to educate your children about safe driving. Begin early. A ten-year-old passenger is a captive audience for you. Serve a good example. Don’t speed along the interstate and then expect your child to do otherwise. Many adults refuse to answer a cell phone in a moving vehicle. Because a cell phone records incoming numbers, a driver has the option to pull off the road safely to use the phone.
Rules of the road should come early with youngsters. Instilled in a child, the rules of the road are real life survival skills. Teaching moments are easy when driving with a child. It’s up to every adult to serve as a positive role model for a child. At home? Set rules and stick to them, especially about cell phones in the vehicle. Remember, a teen drivers accompanied by other teens account for the highest number of accidents. In fact, the odds rise exponentially. A bad decision kills in seconds. Lives hang in the balance. For all the freedom that driving offers a teen, it also bodes ill. Think about it.