During the last several years, DriveTeam Inc. has been an active supporter of The Safe Mobility Project. This initiative is a collaboration between Akron Children’s Hospital and the Goodyear Foundation. It enables the hospital and community partner organizations to expand child safety programs focusing on child passenger seats, bike helmets, and teen drivers.
As of 2017, Akron Children’s Hospital began offering educational programs aimed to promote safe driving practices in teenagers. More recently, initiatives such as the High School Parking Pass Model Policy provide recommendations to local high schools on improving their current student parking pass policy.
It’s important to consistently communicate safe driving expectations to teens, along with the consequences of unsafe driving behaviors like speeding and distracting driving. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of teens and every day six teens are killed in a car crash.
The Safe Mobility Project recently shared statistics specifically for Summit County that we wanted to share:
- Summit County ranks 4 of 88 counties in Ohio for teen crashes.
- In 2019 there were 1,928 youth-related crashes.
- Teen crashes are highest during the school week.
- 47% of teen crashes occur between 2pm and 7pm.
While there is more work to be done in order to keep our teens safe on the road, the good news is there are measures parents can take to ensure their teens become responsible, safe drivers. Take an active role in their training and set very clear guidelines for their driving privileges with a parent-teen driving contract. Be a responsible role model by not participating behaviors such as distracted driving, road rage or speeding.
The Safe Mobility Project has several great resources and videos that we encourage you to explore on their website.