Global Youth Traffic Safety Month Begins

Just Friday we presented information from a study that shows that teenage drivers are in denial that they will be the cause of a distracted driving accident. That may not be the case for all teens, however, and the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) is hoping to rally teen safety advocates to help spread the word to other teens to drive safely.

NOYS announced Tuesday the start of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month.  With a focus on a safe summer, the campaign is “targeting young drivers to commit to the safest summer ever to put an end to motor vehicle crashes.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drivers aged 15- to 20-years old are especially vulnerable to death and injury on U.S. roadways. In fact, traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in America with approximately 5,000 teenagers killed every year.  The NHTSA also notes that, mile-for-mile, teenagers are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as all other drivers.

“Summer is the deadliest time of year on the roads for teens,” said Sandy Spavone, Executive Director of NOYS, pointing to NHTSA data that an average of 422 teens die in traffic crashes during each of the summer months as compared to a monthly average of 363 teen deaths during the non-summer months.

The events for the month kicked-off with a rally in Washington, D.C., with activities to encourage teens to sign pledges and participate in distracted driving and impaired driving prevention activities. Teen drivers were asked to take a pledge signing links to represent a student’s commitment to promote safe driving. The links were to be constructed into a chain to be displayed at a school or community center.

Speakers included U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt and Peter Kissinger, CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

“National Youth Traffic Safety Month is an important reminder of the obligation we all share to help keep our youngest drivers safe behind the wheel,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “I’m tremendously grateful to the young leaders across the country who are stepping up to raise awareness about traffic safety in their communities.”

Various competitions among schools have been conducted throughout the year and will continue through the duration of the campaign. Act Out Loud is one competition encouraging youth to raise their voices in their school and communities for stronger teen driving safety laws.  Act Out Loud is sponsored by NOYS and The Allstate Foundation, and offers a grand prize of $10,000.  See NOYS for a full list of events.

Some of the PA schools participating include Central Mountain HS in Mill Hall, PA; Central Tech, Erie, PA; Fayette cCounty Career and Technical Institute, Uniontown, PA; James M Coughlin HS, Wilkes-Barre, PA; and Deer Lakes HS, Creighton, PA.

In Pennsylvania in 2010, there were 121,312 total automobile accidents.  Of those, 27,351 involved drivers under the age of 21.

Our PA car accident attorneys encourage all teens to be actively involved in all educational campaigns aimed to educate about safe driving behaviors.  Following the activities of NOYS throughout the month may just help you prevent an accident this summer.

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