Drive it home Teen Driving Safety Program

Thank you to the Allstate Foundation and National Safety Council for sponsoring this post. Check out Drive it Home, a website by and for parents, dedicated to keeping our teen drivers safe.

Did you know one of the most dangerous years in a person’s life is the first 12 months after getting a driver’s license?Annually, there are about two million teens under the age of 18 in their first year of driving on U.S. roads, the National Safety Council (NSC) reports. Facts like these are the reason me and my family went to the Drive it Home event presented by Allstate Foundation and the National Safety Council. This event was not only entertaining, but enlightening. Research from The Allstate Foundation shows nearly half of parents express regret about not monitoring their teen driver after they get a license, and more than two-thirds wish they spent more time practicing driving with their teen in high-risk situations. To educate parents on driving risks, the Allstate Foundation is helping NSC launch Drive It Home, a new program offering specially created resources to help parents keep their teens safer on the road, especially after a teen gets a driver’s license.

The Drive it Home Teen Driving Safety Program takes a funny approach to a serious situation:

The Drive it Home event was fantastic for anyone with teenagers, preteens, or kids at all! I have a 5 year old, but I learned plenty that I can use forever! Allstate has found a great way to inform parents and teens, by incorporating fun by bringing in some sketch comedy routines, while letting you know the best way to make sure your teen is prepared for driving.

Here are some driving statistics about my home state,  Tennessee, that I learned about at the Drive it Home event:

• 37% of Tennessee parents don’t know that the biggest safety risk to their teens is parked right outside their home.
• Parents believe that risk-taking is the primary cause of crashes, when inexperience is the real issue. Only 15% of Tennessee parents say a teen’s lack of driving experience is the top cause of crashes. That’s even lower than the national average of 18%.
• If they had it to do over again, seven out of 10 parents in Tennessee said they would expose their teens to higher-risk driving situations when teaching their teens to drive.
• 58% of Tennessee teens wish their parents had spent more time teaching them to drive in demanding situations. The national percentage is 55%.
• If they had it to do over again, 55% of parents in Tennessee agreed they would more closely monitor their teen’s driving immediately after licensure.
• Most parents are not setting rules around the most dangerous behaviors on the road, including passengers and nighttime driving. More than half of Tennessee teens (62%) said their parents have set rules on night restrictions, while less than half (47%) say they have restrictions on the number of passengers.
• According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there were 327 fatalities in crashes involving at least one 15- to 19-year-old motor vehicle driver in Tennessee from 2009-11. A total of 128 teen drivers (15-19), 33 teen passengers (15-19) and 35 other age passengers in the teen’s vehicle and 110 others were killed in those crashes.
• Tennessee teens must log a minimum of 50 hours of driving practice, including 10 nighttime hours,before they can obtain a driver’s license.

Programs like Drive it Home can help save lives!

I am so thankful for Allstate and the National Safety Council for allowing me the chance to attend their Drive it Home event. I highly recommend anyone that has a safety course in their area to attend!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.