DMV Marks Today’s Start of
National Teen Driver Safety Week
October 16-22

New Advisory Committee to Address Safety Issues, Outreach

WETHERSFIELD – National Teen Driver Safety week begins today and DMV Commissioner Melody A. Currey announced that her office has taken some special initiatives to help teens and parents understand the importance of safety behind the wheel.

The Commissioner has created a special advisory committee, which first met last week, to address three key aspects of promoting  both safety and the state’s tough laws and training requirements for 16 and 17-year-old drivers. National Teen Driver Safety Week, started several years ago, runs from October 16-22.

“This is a time nationally and in Connecticut for reminding our youngest drivers and their parents about preparation, caution and diligence behind the wheel,” said Commissioner Currey. “Teen driving accidents are the leading cause of death in this age group and safety should never be taken for granted,” she added. DMV also sponsors a teen-safe driving video contest annually and it is announced in early October to coordinate with this specially marked week (ct.gov/teendriving).

The Commissioner, who began her term at DMV earlier this year, said she wanted to continue strong outreach to parents and teens through the work of her newly created Commissioner’s Advisory Committee on Teen Safe Driving. It includes safety advocates, parents, law enforcement, students, public health, state and federal officials, and others from around the state.

Juhi Gupta, a student at Mercy High School in Middletown and member of the advisory committee, said, “I don’t think teens think about the dangers of driving unless you tell them something like it’s National Teen Driver Safety Week. Students and administrators during the week should have programs to go over safety tips and other information.”

The panel’s first charge is to address three issues:

1)    Creation of a new video to be shown in driving schools and elsewhere on safety measures teens and parents should know.

2)    Creation of a revised and enhanced teen-parent agreement, pledge or “contract” that spells out the safety precautions and consequences at home a teen may face when disregarding those measures.

3)    Creation of a parent-specific outreach program that brings information to parents on such topics as a teen brain development taking until the early to mid- 20s for full maturation, safety issues with vehicles and strategies for dealing with teens in the era of the millennial generation.

“These are very important avenues to begin reaching teens and their parents. This continues the state’s hard work in addressing this special segment of drivers, who are among the most vulnerable and inexperienced we have on the road today,” Commissioner Currey said.

Connecticut in August entered its fourth year of having toughened and strengthened teen driving laws. These measures remain among the strongest in the country. By many critical standards, Connecticut for several reasons, including continued outreach such as the programs being addressed by the Commissioner’s advisory committee, continues to show signs of improved safe driving by teens. Enforcement of the teen driving laws by police and promotion of community awareness propelled by safety advocates and parents has also contributed to this improvement.

A series of high-profile teen-driver crashes in 2007 triggered an intensive nine-month public awareness and law-changing campaign in 2008. A special task force recommended changes to teen driving laws. Adopted into law by the legislatures, the changes include longer periods of passenger restrictions for teen drivers, an earlier 11 p.m. curfew time for these drivers to be off the road except for certain situations, harder penalties through increased fines and license suspensions for violators of the laws, rigorous training requirements for study and on-the-road practice, and a mandated parent-teen information session about safe driving and teen development.

Other information on National Teen Driver Safety Week can be found on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov/Teen-Drivers.