How High Schools Can Promote Teen Safe Driving Week
Schools can be one of the best outlets to promote teen safe driving. Discuss safe driving with students at your school (no matter what grade). Help encourage your teens to make sure they are safe every time they get behind the wheel! Tell your students to:
Buckle up! Make sure you and all of your passengers have their seat belts on before putting the vehicle into "drive."
Put down your cell phone! Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of teenage accidents. Pull your vehicle over before calling or texting. Connecticut has a strict cell phone law!
Slow Down! Speeding is another leading cause of car accidents by teens. Obey all posted speed limit signs. Nearly 40% of all fatal teen crashes are caused by speeding.
Do Not Drink and Drive! Drinking and driving is against the law. You can lose more than just your license, you could lose your life or the life of a friend. Hear directly from teens who have to live everyday with their choice to drink and drive.
Obey the Law! Connecticut has new teen driving laws for 16- and 17-year-olds.
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Discuss New Teen Driving Laws
As of August 1, 2008 Connecticut has new teen driving laws for 16- and 17-year-olds. These new laws include a change in curfew, stricter passenger restrictions, stricter DUI penalties, additional driver retraining offenses, and a 48-hour, on-the-spot license suspension for certain offenses. Please see DMV's New Teen Driving Laws brochure. The laws can also be found in Spanish- New Teen Driving Laws Spanish Brochure.
DMV Commissioner Robert Ward also created a podcast explaining the new laws. Play the following audio for your class (and give them a pop quiz at the end):
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Discuss common driving behaviors that teens face everyday. Ask teens to share their stories or experiences on these issues.
Sharing the Road
Changing Lanes
Turning
Backing
Passing
Steering
Braking
Read the Connecticut Driver's Manual for a detailed explanation of these behaviors and more discussion ideas.
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Disobeying the laws or driving carelessly can have financial, emotional, or even fatal consequences. Discuss the consequences of careless driving with your students.
1. Losing your license
2. An expensive ticket
3. Higher insurance rates
4. Injuring or killing a friend
5. Injuring or killing yourself
6. Injuring or killing a stranger
7. Damaging your property or someone else’s property
8. Serving jail time
9. Getting sued and having to go to court
10. Not being able to get a job because of criminal record
11. Destroying your future
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Listen to what your students have to say about teen driving
Let your students think about their own experiences or ideas on teen safe driving. Assign all students to write an article on smart driving that can be entered in Keep-the-Drive high school journalist contest. Discuss ideas on good driving behaviors the students could write about, which can be found on the Keep-the-Drive Web site.
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Other ideas on how schools can spread the message of teen safe driving all year long:
Start a Teen Safe Driving Group at your school. Encourage students to join and get involved.
Hold an assembly at your school with law enforcement officials and !mpact to talk about the teen driving laws and the consequences of breaking the laws.
Hold a parents' night and talk to parents about teen driving and the laws.
Launch a Teen Safe Driving Poster Contest at your school. Have the winning poster hung throughout the hallways of your high school.
Hand out safe driving information during half-time of a sporting event.
Meet with athletic coaches and require them to talk to their athletes about teen driving laws. Have school consequences if they are caught violating the laws.
Share your school's teen safe driving ideas! E-mail the DMV's Teen Driving Center at dmv.webmaster@ct.gov with your ideas that will be shared with other high schools in the state.