Archive for October, 2010

Oct
18/10
National Teen Driver Safety Week October 18-22
Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 April 2011 09:26
Written by cbush
Monday, October 18th, 2010

National News Release 2010 NTDSW

Posted under In the News  |  Comments  No Comments
Oct
13/10
Generation tXt featured in OSC Newsletter!
Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 October 2010 08:16
Written by mstark
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Alive at 25           Quarterly Newsletter            Summer 2010
 
 
 
     
 
Message from OSC Executive Director . . . .
I hope you are all having a great summer so far this year in spite of the heat and humidity. What will August be like!? I continue to read about accidents and fatalities for young people in our Alive at 25 target age group. I wonder each time how many of those are caused by cellphone use and empirically believe it is much, much higher than studies or documentation shows.There is a neat Tulsa student-led group highlighted in this issue named Generation tXt. We have met with them and fully support their mission to stop texting by teens. The Booker T Washington HS students and their adult sponsors obtained a grant from State Farm Insurance and are progressing forward by teaching young drivers and their parents through a local driving school in Tulsa. Check out their website at www.gentxt.orgWe’re thinking of starting a Facebook account for Alive at 25 where instructors can share their teaching accounts and stories, and where we can post stories, stats and updates about legislation, etc. Maybe teens might also get involved here as well and post some peer to peer testimonials. Let us know your thoughts as if you think this might have utility for you. Email Kellie Warrior at [email protected]   

Lets continue to educate and save more youthful lives! 

Dave Koeneke

Executive Director

Oklahoma Safety Council

Distracted Driving Quarterly Newsletter
Don’t miss out on this new resource. Set up a profile and designate “Distracted Driving” as an Interest Area, to get:

  • NSC Cell Phone Policy Kit updates
  • Education materials
  • New research findings
  • Employer policy case studies
  • Federal and state legislative updates
  • And much more.

 

Alive at 25 Parent Program
To properly prepare teens to drive, parents must have a clear understanding of the risks they face. That’s why the National Safety Council developed Alive at 25® Parent Program. Both the 3-hour classroom course and the 2-hour online program identify those risks, and help parents reinforce good driving skills and decision-making to them become safe and responsible drivers.  Parents will learn to:

  • Get involved in training their teens to drive safely and responsibly
  • Encourage the parent/teen partnership from learning to drive through independent driving.
  • Offer practical solutions to reduce the unique risks and hazards teen drivers face
  • Help their teens to understand the need for defensive driver training
  • Examine how to approach Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) laws, and those related to safety belts, speeding, and alcohol and drugs
  • Provide an example of an effective parent/teen driver contract and discuss the importance of using the contract to manage teens’ driving experience

There is no instructor course certification course required to teach the Alive at 25® Parent Program. Just order your course materials below and start teaching the course at your school or in your community. In addition to your facilitator kit, you have a choice of two participant kits, with or without the Family Guide to Teen Driver Safety.

Teaching materials include:

  • Facilitator Kit Complete with all the teaching materials you’ll need, as well as a Parent Course Guide, Window Decal and Family Guide to Teen Driver Safety
  • Complete Parent Kit Includes Parent Course Guide, Window Decal and Family Guide to Teen Driver Safety (minimum order of 25)
  • Parent Kit 25-Pack Includes 25 Parent Course Guides and 25 Window Decals

Alive at 25 Parent Program Online 

Based on the same content of our classroom course, this highly interactive 2-hour program provides an overview of the importance of graduated driving laws, relevant facts and statistics, and strategies to help keep teenage drivers safe. The useful bookmark feature allows parents to interrupt then continue the course as their schedules allow. Also includes a resource center, with printable materials.

For more information about the Alive at 25 Parent Program contact the Oklahoma Safety Council at 405-848-8626.

“Generation tXt”
 Eight High School students in Tulsa, OK formed Generation tXt. The group applied for and was awarded a grant from State Farm Youth Advisory Board for a comprehensive project to raise awareness of the dangers of texting while driving in their community.  The project is comprehensive in scope and based on extensive research of previous campaigns to stop drunk driving and to promote safety belt use.  The teens proposed a three step plan1. Education of peers (novice drivers prior to getting intermediate licensure) and their parents, with outcomes measurement to determine best strategy;

2.  Legislative and local advocacy for strict bans and enforcement of laws that ban cell phone use while driving. 

3.  Massive media campaign to include TV, radio, You Tube, Face book and Website in both Spanish and English.  All materials will be translated to and implemented in Spanish.

The grant was awarded on February 22, 2010.  Since that time the students have done extensive research of the literature, spoken with experts in the defensive field and designed an education program for their peers (targeting teens in drivers education programs), and the novice teen drivers’ parents.  The education program is being taught 3 -4 days a week (reaching over 50 student drivers per week).   The group is matching Driver’s Education program students who get the training, with those who do not.   They are collecting data on teen and parent perception of risk and strategies to diminish risk.  Teen crash and ticketing with causation statistics will be collected using area police to request and review motor vehicle records of those students that will be compared prospectively. 

The group has successfully advocated in person at the state capitol last February, 2010.  On June 8, Governor Brad Henry signed into law SB 1908 that bans teens with permits and intermediate licensure from using any handheld cell phone device while driving.  Event planning has started for a citywide event with media campaign in October 2010.  For more information visit us at www.mygentxt.org

PSA/commercial and YouTube video are in various stages of production, all to be launched summer of 2010.

The National Safety Council Releases White Paper on Brain Distraction During Cell Phone Use While Driving 
 The National Safety Council released a white paper describing the risks of using a cell phone while driving. The white paper, “Understanding the distracted brain: Why driving while using hands-free cell phones is risky behavior,” addresses the lack of understanding about the dangers of cell phones and hands-free devices.The white paper includes references to more than 30 scientific studies and reports, describing how using a cell phone, hands-free or handheld, requires the brain to multitask – a process it cannot do safely while driving. Cell phone use while driving not only impairs driving performance, but it also weakens the brain’s ability to capture driving cues. The white paper is available for free download on the NSC Website

The paper describes how drivers who use cell phones have a tendency to “look at” but not “see” up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment. A form of inattention blindness occurs, which results in drivers having difficulty monitoring their surroundings, seeking and identifying potential hazards, and responding to unexpected situations. 

Numerous public opinion surveys show most drivers believe using a cell phone while driving is dangerous. However, many admit they regularly talk or text while driving. At any time, 11 percent of all drivers are using cell phones, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NSC estimates more than 1 out of every 4 motor vehicle crashes involves cell phone use at the time of the crash. 

“Cell phone use while driving has become a serious public health threat,” said Janet Froetscher, NSC president and CEO. “This white paper provides the necessary background and context for lawmakers and employers considering distracted driving legislation and policies. Several states and municipalities have passed legislation allowing hands-free devices while driving. These laws give the false impression that hands-free phones are a safe alternative, when the evidence is clear they are not. Understanding the distraction of the brain will help people make the right decision and put down their cell phones while driving.” 

To learn more about cell phone use while driving, visit distracteddriving.nsc.org

United States Driving Laws Chart 
A jurisdiction-wide ban on driving while talking on a hand-held cellphone is in place in 9 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) and the District of Columbia. Utah has named the offense careless driving. Under the Utah law, no one commits an offense when speaking on a cellphone unless they are also committing some other moving violation other than speeding.Local jurisdictions may or may not need specific state statutory authority to ban cellphones. Localities that have enacted restrictions on cellphone use include: Oahu, HI; Chicago, IL; Brookline, MA; Detroit, MI; Santa Fe, NM; Brooklyn, North Olmstead, and Walton Hills, OH; Conshohocken, Lebanon, and West Conshohocken, PA; Waupaca County, WI; and Cheyenne, WY.The use of all cellphones while driving a school bus is prohibited in 19 states and the District of Columbia.  The use of all cellphones by novice drivers is restricted in 28 states and the District of Columbia.

Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 30 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, novice drivers are banned from texting in 8 states (Alabama, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia) and school bus drivers are banned from text messaging in 2 states (Oklahoma, and Texas).

The table below shows the states that have cellphone laws, whether they specifically ban text messaging, and whether they are enforced as primary or secondary laws. Under secondary laws, an officer must have some other reason to stop a vehicle before citing a driver for using a cellphone. Laws without this restriction are called primary.”

For state laws on cell phone use and texting click here

Welcome our Newest Alive at 25 Instructors
Edmond Police Dept.Acey HopperPaul Phillips

Danny Austill

Greg Jaggi

Chickasha Police Dept.

Tray Alexander

Elip Moore

FocusDriven – Advocates for Cell-Free Driving
“FocusDriven” is a new non-profit organization who are advocates for cell-free driving. This organization was assembled by Jennifer Smith whose mother, Linda Doyle, was killed in Oklahoma City by a young man driving while talking on his cell phone. Founding Board members are those who have also lost a family member due to similar circumstances of drivers and cell phone use.
 
Jennifer Smith has lobbied statewide in Oklahoma and nationwide in other states and in Washington D.C. at national government conferences. She has partnered with the National Safety Council and they will provide resources to help her organization move forward to accomplish its mission.
 
The “Focus Driven” message is simply that no one should talk or text on a cell phone while driving and many sources of proof and statistics are provided by the organization. This organization’s goals parallel well with the Alive at 25 program that NSC and OSC offers because youthful drivers are the most prevalent users of cell phones and especially texting while driving. 
 FocusDriven is proud to announce that April has been designated as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.  This unbelievable achievement was led by FocusDriven Founding Board Member Shelley Forney of Fort Collins, Colorado in honor of her daughter Erica, who was struck and killed by a distracted driver in 2008.  Moments like these are born from great tragedies. FocusDriven is dedicated to growing this mission so that others may not have to bear the same suffering. Support our movement today and remember … on the phone, off the road.For more information on Focus Driven click here.
Alive at 25 Instructor Course Schedule
Young drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 represent the largest group of problem drivers on the road.  Motor vehicle collisions are the #1 cause of death for young adults.  We need to go beyond basic drivers education and teach critical defensive driving techniques to young drivers once they have reached their license and feel confident and “experienced”.  Providing this additional training is a must in order to make our nation’s highways safer now and in the future.Instructor Course GoalThis 2 day instructor course will train you to work with the largest group of “at-risk” drivers using materials and topics they identify with.  This course is approved for 16 hours of C.L.E.E.T credit.

Who Should Attend? 

Driving school instructors

High school drivers education teachers

State, county and local police, public information officers, court trainers

Driving schools working with newly licensed drivers or teen violators  

Topics Covered During Course

How to use course materials 
Administrative responsibilities 
Special considerations for special vehicles 
Developing effective teaching skills 
Why young drivers underestimate risk 
Techniques to maintain control in driving situations 
Top 6 violations of these drivers and how to overcome them
How to stay “cool” with friends 
How to handle peer pressure
Updated drug information 
Speed and stopping distances 
Fatigue and what it causes 
Work zone driving rules 
Young adult learning needs 
. . . . . . . And much more!

Instructor Course Schedule

July 26-27, 2010 (OKC)

September 20-21, 2010 (OKC)

* These are the last two courses being offered for the rest of the year.

Fee & Registration Information

Fee:  $315 per person

Time:  8:30am – 4:30pm

To register for any of these courses online, click here.

 

 
The Oklahoma Safety Council (OSC), an affiliate chapter of the National Safety Council,
is a not-for-profit, non-governmental membership organization. Our mission is to provide compliance and proactive safety training, education and resources to members of the council and to the general public.Oklahoma Safety Council4323 NW 63rd Street, Suite 140

Oklahoma City, OK 73116

Phone: (405) 848-8626

www.oksafety.org

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