Parents’ Views of a Classroom and Closed-Road Post-License Driving Program for Teen Drivers, Guard Your Life

In the US, teenage drivers have an increased risk of being involved in crashes. To address this, post-license advanced driving programs have emerged. This study gains parents’ perspectives while observing their teens’ involvement in a post-license driving program focused on a hands-on introduction to emergency braking, skid recovery and the dangers of distracted driving. Parents completed a survey after the program, and for comparison purposes, the teens also completed a survey at the end of the program. While the parents only observed the program, the results revealed that most learned useful information and would consider additional training for themselves. Almost all teens and parents reported anticipating changing their driving behaviors, specifically by reducing distractions, having a heightened awareness and changing their driving position. These results suggest that parents benefited from simply observing the class.

Cellphone laws and teens’ calling while driving: analysis of repeated cross-sectional surveys in 2013, 2015, and 2017

Background Distracted driving among teen is a public health and safety concern. Most states in the U.S. have sought to restrict cellphone use while driving by enacting laws. This study aims to examine the difference in prevalence of self-reported calling while driving (CWD) between states with different types of cellphone bans. Methods Demographics and CWD data were extracted from state Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS) from 14 states in 2013, 2015 and 2017. The state YRBS is conducted every two years with a representative sample of 9th through 12th grade students attending public school. States were grouped by type of enacted cellphone law(s): concurrent bans (concurrently enacted handheld calling ban and young driver ban); young driver ban (no handheld calling and enacted young driver ban only); and no ban (no handheld calling and no young driver ban). Poisson regression models with robust variance were used to estimate prevalence ratios comparing CWD prevalence across cellphone laws. Results In total, 109,069 high school students participated in the surveys, and 56, 492 (56%) participants reached the minimum learner’s permit age for their states and drove during the 30 days before the survey. Approximately 46% of participants reported CWD at least once during the previous 30 days and the percentages varied widely across states (range: 29%-62%). Compared to students from states with no ban enacted, those from states with concurrent bans were 14% less likely to engage in CWD (95% CI: 3%-23%). Students in states with concurrent bans were 15% less likely to engage in CWD compared to students in states with young driver bans (95% CI:7%-21%). Young driver bans were not associated with a decrease of CWD. Conclusions Engaging in CWD is common among teen drivers. The concurrent implementation of a handheld calling ban and a young driver ban was associated with a decrease of CWD. States without a handheld calling ban are encouraged to implement such law to reduce teen drivers engaging in cellular-based distraction behind the wheel.