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Allstate Driving Summit teaches teens to teach teens safe driving
By Penny Rathbun
Texas had the highest rate of death among 16- to-17-year-old drivers and passengers among 50 states in 2002-2003.
There were 494 deaths compared to the state with the lowest statistics, Hawaii with 11.
Because of those disturbing statistics the Allstate Foundation has developed a driver education program for student leaders at the high school level. Last week more than 100 high school students from the North Texas area attended the Allstate Foundation Teen Safe Driving Summit at the Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco.
Allstate research has shown that in spite of many safe driving programs for teen-agers, the statistics of teen-age drivers and passengers hurt or killed in traffic accidents remains about the same. Research also showed that social pressure and adolescent brain development are contributing factors. Teens are influenced by their friends into indulging in risky behavior and teen-age brain development is different than brain development in adults. Teen-agers are more likely to make unsafe driving decisions simply because their brains are not as developed as they will be when they are in their 20s.
Through surveys Allstate researchers found out that teen-agers prefer to be told about safe driving practices by their peers rather than adults.
Crist said the Allstate Foundation developed the driving summits to go with other safe driving programs. The summit concentrates on teen leaders. The hope is that teen leaders influencing their friends to drive safely will have more of an effect than classes lead by adults.
Frisco High School student council advisor Amy Stanwick brought six student council officers to the driving summit. She said her students plan to implement what they learn at the summit in their school. "We're looking for more innovative ways to help students educate students," she said. She would like to see participation in the summit become a yearly thing. She teaches social studies at FHS.
Rhonda Martin teaches family and consumer science and peer assistance and leadership at Boyd High School in McKinney. She brought seven student leaders with her to the summit.
"We're here because it is an opportunity for us to serve the school and the community. It's about being a smart driver," she said.
"I was floored when I heard 16 teens died a day in the U.S. It's unsettling to hear that," she added. "I believe it will take just 1 percent of our kids to make a difference. That's how few it takes to have a positive impact. This group of kids are born leaders. They are the 1 percent."
Staci Travis, a senior at Frisco High School and the president of the student council said she came to the summit to get tips on safe driving and to get ideas for student council projects. She said over lunch she and her group had a lot of good ideas for projects.
"The best thing about this program," she said, "is that it's about teens coming together and spreading the message, especially in a venue like this. We're not cooped up in a little room where they're lecturing to us." She wants to be a high school psychology teacher and a student council sponsor.
Much of the emphasis in the summit workshops was on avoiding distractions and concentrating on driving. Crist said anything that distracts the driver is not a good thing whether it is talking to someone in the car, talking on a cell phone, or eating in the car.
The subject of drunk driving is covered in the summit, but statistics show that alcohol is involved in only 25 percent of teen crash fatalities.
Crist hopes for a cascading effect. Those who participate in the summit will then teach safe driving habits to their friends.
"There is no preaching involved," he said. "It's kids talking to kids. This may be the conversation that really gets through. Teens know other people going through the exact same feelings. It's about influence. It's not about control."
He said the most important thing about the Allstate Teen Driving Summit is that is saves lives. "Don't be afraid to have the conversation about fun and responsibility with your kids," he told parents. "If we can change 16 to 15 to 14 to 13 - that's the bottom line. It's the power of that number."
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