PennDOT encourages teens to be safer drivers
PennDOT has launched several initiatives to make teen drivers in Pennsylvania safer to themselves and other motorists.
PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards kicked off Teen Driver Safety Week to raise awareness about the dangers of young drivers. There were 113,029 crashes involving at least one teen driver in Pennsylvania in the last five years, resulting in 859 fatalities.
“Safely operating a vehicle requires complex evaluations, split-second decisions and intricate maneuvers. Parents are in the best position to evaluate a teen driver’s knowledge, skills and abilities behind the wheel,” said Richards. “Parents setting a positive, safe example for young drivers in their family and continuing to monitor young drivers after they receive their license helps establish a mentality of safety behind the wheel among teen drivers.”
Safe Roads Alliance, State Farm Insurance and Sheetz have joined PennDOT in a public-private partnership to offer the Parent’s Supervised Driving Program to give parents a handbook that shows them how best to teach their teens to drive safely. The program includes a smart phone application for parents to track their teen’s practice time.
PennDOT also offers its own mobile app that provides sample driver license knowledge test questions to help teens prepare for the actual test. The app is available on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s mobile app store.
“Safe driving is important at every age,” PHIA Managing Director Jason Wagner said. “Teaching good habits when drivers first earn their licenses will create safe drivers for life.”
For more information on the Parent’s Supervised Driving Program, click HERE or visit PennDOT’s highway safety website, www.JustDrivePA.org.
