teenage drivers -

An abundance of automobile crashes at South Carolina’s Beaufort High School prompted the principal to intervene on behalf of safety.  Students now have to take a safety course called “Alive at 25” in order to earn the privilege of leaving their vehicles in the student parking lot at the school. Schools across the nation have adopted this program.  In Oklahoma, almost 2,000 students have submitted to the program already.

Follow this link to learn more about the course.

State Farm will be hosting a driving safety event held at Frisco’s Stonebriar Centre Mall on September 15.  It will be used primarily to help teach Texas teenagers about the importance of safety on the road. Around 3,500 teens are killed in crashes every year in the United States, making proper instruction regarding distracted driving and other dangerous activities vitally important for the young people who will be attending.

For more about the “Celebrate My Drive” event, click here.

Although Michigan will qualify for grant money as part of federal funding geared toward squelching distracted driving this year, the state will not qualify next year due to the fact that their current laws do not contain specifics targeting teen driving. The current statute that took effect in July 2010 only bans texting, as opposed to banning other forms of interactive phone use or creating stricter laws governing teens. While Michigan has passed laws pertaining to teens that restrict the number of passengers under 21 and create a toughter curfew, these laws do not address the distracted driving requirements for continued federal funding.

For more information, follow this link.

Starting Friday, any motorcyclists in Pennsylvania who are 16 or 17 years old will have to submit to a basic rider course before they’re allowed to get on the back of a motorcycle alone.  The 15 hour course will provide participants with training geared toward defensive driving techniques, avoiding drunk driving, and more.  The hope is that those riders will be able to counter their relative lack of experience through such teaching.

Click here to learn more about this law.

More than 60,000 citations were issued to California motorists during the state’s Distracted Driving Awareness public safety campaign, which took place throughout the month of April. Of these distracted driving tickets, approximately 57,000 of the citations were issued for violations of the state’s ban on handheld cellphone use while driving. The increased enforcement of distracted driving related traffic violations was the result of a cooperative effort between law enforcement agencies at the state and local levels, more than 250 in total. In 2011, California law enforcement offices issued more than 168,000 citations for distracted behavior while behind the wheel. The state’s Office of Traffic Safety issued a statement declaring an increase in the number of distracted driving citations, up from the 52,000 citations issued for inattentive driving in April of 2011, at least partially due to the increasing propensity for using a handheld communication device while driving prevalent among teenage drivers.  According to survey study results cited by the California Office of Traffic Safety, an estimated 18 percent of drivers between the ages f 16 and 25 years old use their cellphones while operating a moving motor vehicle. Internet enabled smart phones are also more prevalent, now comprising more than 50 percent of the cellphones in America, increasing the number of electronic distractions available to drivers. Using a handheld communication device for any non emergency reason without the use of a hands free device such as a Bluetooth transmitter, has been illegal in the state of California since 2008.