National Teen Driver Safety Week Distracted Driving Awareness

This year’s National Teen Driver Safety Week held in mid-October was aimed at education young drivers about road safety. Companies such as Parachute and State Farm teamed up to call on teens to reduce distracted and impaired driving with their campaign, #GetHomeSafe.

Parachute, a non-profit Canadian organization that educated Canadians about preventable injuries conducted a recent poll and found that 39% of young drivers admitted to texting and driving and 71% of these teen drivers did not consider using their phones while driving to be distracting. The results from the poll are nothing but startling given that distracted driving has been attributed to approximately 19% of all fatal crashes involving teen drivers.

This year’s National Teen Driver Safety Week Parachute campaign also focussed on the use of drug impairment amongst teen drivers. Twenty -five percent of teens who died in a crash between 2000-2010 tested positive for cannabis. Teen drivers do not consider drug impairment a high risk.

Teens Don’t Think That Distracted Driving is a Problem

Educating teens about drug impaired driving is also a focus of this year’s National Teen Driver Safety Week. One in four teen drivers who died in a crash between 2000- 2010 tested positive for cannabis yet many youth don’t consider drugged driving high risk.

State Farm hopes that teen drivers get the message when it comes to drug, alcohol impairment and distracted driving. Despite the cavalier attitude of teen drivers when it comes to distracted driving and impaired driving, impaired and distractions continue to be a major factor in teen crashes and fatalities. Distractions and impairment either by alcohol or drugs will affect a driver’s judgment and reaction time to situations on the road. Judgment, reaction time and focusing on the task of driving can be the difference between surviving a potentially fatal situation and not. Young Drivers of Canada continues to educate its students on the dangers of distracted driving and impaired driving as a result of drugs and alcohol.