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Emily Davidson always wears her seat belt; without it, she feels unsafe. It isn’t that she has personally been affected by a tragic story or lost a loved one in a fatal accident. For the 18-year-old Fort Collins High School senior, it just comes down to common sense.
“It surprises me that people aren’t (wearing seat belts) and wouldn’t be safe about it,” she said. “They can help themselves or not. It’s stupid. Why wouldn’t you? Little things do make a difference.”
But the reality is that teens frequent the roadways everyday without buckling up. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in Colorado and wearing a seat belts doubles the chance of survival in a crash. While the number of teen fatalities are on a decline—there were 50 in 2007, down from 62 16-20-year-olds in 2006—teen driving safety is a primary concern for many communities across the state.
Larimer County is no exception. In fact, Larimer County has had a high teen fatality rate in motor vehicle accidents for a number of years. But when that rate placed the county as the highest ranked in the state in 2005, many organizations realized it was time to do something.
“We didn’t want that distinction,” said Janet Werst, injury prevention coordinator for Poudre Valley Health Systems.
So Werst formed the Teen Motor Vehicle Safety Coalition, a group made of law enforcement, emergency medical services, school administration, insurance professionals, teens and parents of teen drivers to promote awareness of teen driving issues. The coalition received a $83,000 grant in June from the Colorado Department of Transportation and Werst said the coalition will receive another one for $90,000 in the fall.
The money is being used for a variety of projects including teen driving presentations for teens and their parents, drivers’ education scholarships and school grants. Werst said the presentations focus on the Graduated Drivers Licensing laws for teen drivers, as well as specific safety tips.
Anne Krell, health educator with Poudre Valley Health System, said about 100 individual scholarships for $300 each will be awarded to students in the district to be used for drivers’ education programs. So far this year, 20 of those scholarships have been awarded. The recipients are then required to give 10 hours of volunteering to help educate others.
“(The cost of drivers’ ed) can be a hardship for many families, so we are targeting low income teens for that,” Krell said.
With the school grants, all high schools in Larimer County were invited to apply. Students proposed creative activities and designed specific campaigns for their schools and were then awarded $2,000 to implement their plans. Krell said all the schools which applied—Poudre, Rocky Mountain, Fossil Ridge, Fort Collins, Thompson Valley, Berthoud and Estes Park—received a grant.
Though each school is doing something a little different, several of them have organized seat belt challenges, where a group of students checks each car as it leaves the parking lot to determine how many drivers are buckling up.
Werst said a baseline look at all of the schools showed that about 58 percent of the teens used their seat belts. She added that she believes positive peer pressure is a great tool to raise that number. During the seat belt challenges, Werst said the student’s surveys showed that percent increased to about 70 percent.
Davidson, who is involved in the peer counseling group at Fort Collins High School, volunteered to lead the campaign initiative at her school. The group is panning on doing something related to the campaign every month. Specifically, they have made features for the school-wide TV program and have also stood out in the parking lot with signs that say “Buckle up.”
“I thought it was a really good way to help our community and our high school because it is something that directly affects us,” she said.
Suzanne Rice, school resource officer at Fossil Ridge High School, said the first thing Fossil Ridge did was kick off an incentive drive where school clubs could sign up to participate in handing out statistics and candy to students wearing seat belts. Each of the five clubs that participated received $100.
Rice, who has worked as a school resource officer for 11 years, also talked with every tenth grader at the school about the new driving laws.
The graduated drivers license law was put in place in Colorado in 1999, but was been tightened and refined over the years. The law requires teenagers to go through three phases when trying to obtain a drivers license. The first phase involves an instruction permit, which the driver must have for a year and log 50 hours of driving time with a parent or legal guardian. The second phase is the restricted license, which limits driving to specific times, as well as the number of passengers of given ages. Upon turning 18, the restrictions are removed.
Rice said before the teen driving laws changed, she would see car loads of seven or eight kids.
“As far as driving habits, they are still teenagers,” Rice said. “They don’t drive very well and don’t pay close attention.”
Though it’s not easy to determine if the safe driving campaigns will directly impact the teen driving statistics, Werst said she has noticed an increase of knowledge among parents and hopefully students as well.
For Davidson, it is simple. She says the campaigns are a good way to deliver a positive message because it isn’t done in a preachy way. She hopes it will help create a safer environment.
“In any high school there will be some kids who are very cautious drivers and some who aren’t,” she said.
“It surprises me that people aren’t (wearing seat belts) and wouldn’t be safe about it,” she said. “They can help themselves or not. It’s stupid. Why wouldn’t you? Little things do make a difference.”
But the reality is that teens frequent the roadways everyday without buckling up. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in Colorado and wearing a seat belts doubles the chance of survival in a crash. While the number of teen fatalities are on a decline—there were 50 in 2007, down from 62 16-20-year-olds in 2006—teen driving safety is a primary concern for many communities across the state.
Larimer County is no exception. In fact, Larimer County has had a high teen fatality rate in motor vehicle accidents for a number of years. But when that rate placed the county as the highest ranked in the state in 2005, many organizations realized it was time to do something.
“We didn’t want that distinction,” said Janet Werst, injury prevention coordinator for Poudre Valley Health Systems.
So Werst formed the Teen Motor Vehicle Safety Coalition, a group made of law enforcement, emergency medical services, school administration, insurance professionals, teens and parents of teen drivers to promote awareness of teen driving issues. The coalition received a $83,000 grant in June from the Colorado Department of Transportation and Werst said the coalition will receive another one for $90,000 in the fall.
The money is being used for a variety of projects including teen driving presentations for teens and their parents, drivers’ education scholarships and school grants. Werst said the presentations focus on the Graduated Drivers Licensing laws for teen drivers, as well as specific safety tips.
Anne Krell, health educator with Poudre Valley Health System, said about 100 individual scholarships for $300 each will be awarded to students in the district to be used for drivers’ education programs. So far this year, 20 of those scholarships have been awarded. The recipients are then required to give 10 hours of volunteering to help educate others.
“(The cost of drivers’ ed) can be a hardship for many families, so we are targeting low income teens for that,” Krell said.
With the school grants, all high schools in Larimer County were invited to apply. Students proposed creative activities and designed specific campaigns for their schools and were then awarded $2,000 to implement their plans. Krell said all the schools which applied—Poudre, Rocky Mountain, Fossil Ridge, Fort Collins, Thompson Valley, Berthoud and Estes Park—received a grant.
Though each school is doing something a little different, several of them have organized seat belt challenges, where a group of students checks each car as it leaves the parking lot to determine how many drivers are buckling up.
Werst said a baseline look at all of the schools showed that about 58 percent of the teens used their seat belts. She added that she believes positive peer pressure is a great tool to raise that number. During the seat belt challenges, Werst said the student’s surveys showed that percent increased to about 70 percent.
Davidson, who is involved in the peer counseling group at Fort Collins High School, volunteered to lead the campaign initiative at her school. The group is panning on doing something related to the campaign every month. Specifically, they have made features for the school-wide TV program and have also stood out in the parking lot with signs that say “Buckle up.”
“I thought it was a really good way to help our community and our high school because it is something that directly affects us,” she said.
Suzanne Rice, school resource officer at Fossil Ridge High School, said the first thing Fossil Ridge did was kick off an incentive drive where school clubs could sign up to participate in handing out statistics and candy to students wearing seat belts. Each of the five clubs that participated received $100.
Rice, who has worked as a school resource officer for 11 years, also talked with every tenth grader at the school about the new driving laws.
The graduated drivers license law was put in place in Colorado in 1999, but was been tightened and refined over the years. The law requires teenagers to go through three phases when trying to obtain a drivers license. The first phase involves an instruction permit, which the driver must have for a year and log 50 hours of driving time with a parent or legal guardian. The second phase is the restricted license, which limits driving to specific times, as well as the number of passengers of given ages. Upon turning 18, the restrictions are removed.
Rice said before the teen driving laws changed, she would see car loads of seven or eight kids.
“As far as driving habits, they are still teenagers,” Rice said. “They don’t drive very well and don’t pay close attention.”
Though it’s not easy to determine if the safe driving campaigns will directly impact the teen driving statistics, Werst said she has noticed an increase of knowledge among parents and hopefully students as well.
For Davidson, it is simple. She says the campaigns are a good way to deliver a positive message because it isn’t done in a preachy way. She hopes it will help create a safer environment.
“In any high school there will be some kids who are very cautious drivers and some who aren’t,” she said.
Learn More
“Teaching Your Teen to Drive” presentation, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 at Poudre High School. For more information, call 495-7509. For more information about Colorado’s teen driving laws, visit www.coteendriver.com.
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