new safe driving effort for teens, parents wins national honor

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New safe driving effort for teens, parents wins national honor

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

The Parent 's Supervised Driving Program recognized

for helping parents bet ter co ach their teen driver

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.Michigan's newest resource for the parents of teen drivers has won tophonors from a national traffic-safety group today in Grand Rapids, Secretary of State Ruth Johnsonannounced.

The national Governors Highway Safety Association, made up of traffic-safety professionals fromacross the United States, awardedThe Parent's Supervised Driving Programthe Peter K. O'RourkeSpecial Achievement Award, given to recognize notable achievements in the field of highway safety.

Johnson, in partnership with the national safety group Safe Roads Alliance, launched Michigan's

program and a related smartphone application late last year to help parents coach their teen drivers.The program's guidebook focuses on the important role of parents during the first phase of theGraduated Driver License program for teen drivers, providing a resource to help and encourageparents to expand upon the amount and diversity of their teen's practice driving experience.

"Michigan has made great strides in reducing the number of crashes and fatalities involving teendrivers," Johnson said."The Parent's Supervised Driving Programis our latest effort to cut thosenumbers even more and help teens reach their destination safely. The program empowers parentsby giving them the tools to better coach their teen and teach safe-driving skills.


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"Traffic-safety research has consistently shown that parents are the most important part of a teen'ssafe-driving education."

The guide includes a detailed instruction plan, training tips and sample driving exercises that teensshould practice. For example, it is recommended that practice sessions include driving in a variety ofweather conditions and in unfamiliar settings to help teens gain experience before faced with these

situations on their own.

Parents and teens are also encouraged to download the program's free mobile app, RoadReady,to track the time they spend together behind the wheel with the click of a button. The app is availablefrom the App Store for iOS devices and will be available for Android devices in the future.

"Parents have a great influence over the way their teen drives," said Jeff Larason, president of SafeRoads Alliance. "The Learner's Permit phase is the last and best chance for parents to have apositive impact, and The Parent's Supervised Driving Program guide and mobile app provide thetools that can help."

Before teens can take a driving skills test and progress to a Level 2 license, they must practicedriving with a licensed adult for at least 50 hours, 10 of which must be at night, as part of Michigan's

Graduated Driver License program.

The Parent's Supervised Driving Programis being printed and distributed at no cost to taxpayersthanks to a public-private partnership with Ford Motor Co. Parents receive a copy at a Secretary ofState office when their teen applies for the Level 1 license, plus it's availableatwww.michigan.gov/teendriver.

"The skills outlined in this guide are meant to help teens learn to be better drivers. It is one of theways Ford works to help teens," Steve Kenner, global director of Ford's Automotive Safety Officesaid. "Our commitment to teen safe driving is at the heart of Ford's Go Further brand promise, andwe are very pleased to be a part of this achievement."

The Governors Highway Safety Association award is the latest recognition of Michigan's efforts toreduce teen-driving deaths and injuries. Earlier this year, Michigan's driver-education and traffic-safety programs received high praise from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-sponsored panel of national experts.

Michigan sought out national review and input in large part because motor vehicle crashes are theleading cause of teen deaths in the United States, claiming about 3,000 lives each year, Johnsonsaid. In 2013, drivers younger than age 21 were involved in 9 percent of all fatal vehicle crashes inMichigan.

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http://michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1627_60169---,00.htmlhttp://michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1627_60169---,00.htmlhttp://michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1627_60169---,00.htmlhttp://michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1627_60169---,00.html


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For media questions, please call Gisgie Dvila Gendreau at 517-373-2520.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Detailed information on the award winning programs can be found at

http://www.ghsa.org/html/meetings/awards/index.html .

For photos and video of The Parent's Supervised Driving Program,

please visitwww.theparentssuperviseddrivingprogram.com/media .

Customers may call the Department of State Information Center

to speak to a customer-service representative at 888-SOS-MICH (767-6424).
http://www.ghsa.org/html/meetings/awards/index.htmlhttp://www.ghsa.org/html/meetings/awards/index.htmlhttp://www.theparentssuperviseddrivingprogram.com/mediahttp://www.theparentssuperviseddrivingprogram.com/mediahttp://www.theparentssuperviseddrivingprogram.com/mediahttp://www.theparentssuperviseddrivingprogram.com/mediahttp://www.ghsa.org/html/meetings/awards/index.html

new safe driving effort for teens, parents wins national honor

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