A Penny For Your Thoughts

Seven o’clock on a Sunday morning is pretty early for most folks, but the early hour did not diminish the animated conversation by a panel assembled by Clear Channel Radio last Sunday to discuss teenage driving and drinking. Spurred by the recent loss of more than a dozen teenagers in Virginia and Maryland automobile crashes, the live call-in program focused on why the crashes were happening and the community response to fix it. The live town meeting was co-sponsored by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), and hosted at their offices near Union Station on Capitol Hill.

Panel members responded to questions from moderator Jerry Phillips and commented on questions from the live audience as well as callers. Much of the discussion centered around parental responsibilities for their inexperienced drivers. Joey, a 20-year-old panel member from the University of Maryland, noted that binge drinking often is a causative factor. He said that peer pressure can quickly change a social occasion into a binge. A.J., a local parochial high school student, said that statistics show that the safest vehicle for a teenaged driver is a “clunky old model that can't go over 30 mph.” Her comment elicited a discussion about teenagers driving SUVs and other large or fast vehicles. Inexperienced drivers and unstable or difficult-to-control vehicles constitute a serious risk even without the addition of alcohol.

Several suggestions were offered to reduce the number of teenage traffic crashes: raising the driving age, restricting the number of passengers for the first several months of driving, and banning cell phone use while driving. One of the callers commented on the wealth of area families which leads to fancy cars in all the high school parking lots, he said. Another caller suggested that our busy lives are to blame, that parents look forward to their teens driving so they can be freed from providing transportation to every school or social event. I noted that parents should remember that they are setting an example every time they are in the car. Children observe parents running stop signs, yelling at other drivers, and blasting through an intersection on the last second of a yellow light. Often, those observations carry over into their own driving behavior.

Near the end of the town meeting, I announced my intention to bring the issue to the COG Board of Directors in January. The COG Public Safety Policy Committee, which I chair, will take a broader look at the issues, pull together the best practices of the various jurisdictions in dealing with the issue, and make recommendations for all localities to consider. Some legislation may be needed, but a very important part of the effort is to educate both parents and teens with one message coming from many voices. I hope to include local elected leaders, non-profit groups, insurance companies, public safety agencies, university presidents, PTAs and schools, and many others in this effort. Our children are dying, and we must stop it - now! Supervisor Penny Gross may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov

Supervisor Penny Gross may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov