Spring is here and with it, the continuing tragedies of teens killed in auto accidents. The latest sad story is the death of a popular 17 year old New Jersey student. A good kid, a football player with no drugs or drinking involved. Just a teen in a car in a Corvette in a broad daylight one vehicle car crash. Studies prove teen brains are not completely developed in areas that affect judgment and spacial relations. After the sadness wears off, the blame game will begin. Many parties can help solve this national tragedy. Allstate Insurance Company has taken the lead on coming up with innovative ways to solve the problem. The New Jersey Legislature has a Teen Driving Task Force charged with coming up with new ideas. State Senator John Adler (D – Cherry Hill), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is working on solutions.
For now, a quick fix would be to make getting a teen driver license much more difficult to obtain. In England and Germany, teens need to pass extensive over the road driving tests. The testing in most U.S. states is a joke. Companies who make a living teaching teens to drive must be held personally responsible if they are not doing a good enough job. Finally, parents, teachers and the teens themselves must spend much more time on this important topic. Unfortunately, since most think it only happens to the “other person” – it’s hard to get the point across. So during this prom season, please stress the importance to teens to drive safely so we can begin to stop the needless carnage.
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