Five years ago today, I started this blog with a post entitled “Why A Safe Teen Driving Blog for Parents?” I invite you to go to the Archives and revisit that beginning, but in summary, I felt there was no resource available to parents that was providing clear, unvarnished explanations of the dangers of teen driving, and what parents can do about them before their teens get behind the wheel. The first few posts, miraculously, drew a few hundred visitors, so right away I knew I was responding to a need.
Five years, 197 posts, and two national public service awards later, we have been hovering just under 30,000 visitors per month during 2014. I guess there was in fact a need.
To celebrate five great years, we decided to try a new look.
I say “we” because this venture has been by no means my own. From Day One, Curt Clarisey of Clarisey Consulting in Simsbury, Connecticut has been the “maintainer” of the blog, but that term nowhere near acknowledges his contributions. Curt has been a friend, technological wizard, confidante, guiding star, and much more. Simply put, this blog would not have happened, and would not have achieved what it has, without Curt. Curt, thank you (and Betsy) for embracing Reid’s story and my mission. My gratitude is unending.
I must also thank Cathy Gillen, or as I call her, “Wonder Woman.” For the past 18 months Cathy has helped me publicize my book Not So Fast, but as sometimes happens with a high energy person who knows everyone in the universe, she has taken on the role of promoting my mission in all its forms; she has introduced this blog to thousands of people in the traffic safety community. I call our steady rise in readership during the past two years “The Gillen Effect.” Cathy, you are amazing.
The great New York Times sports columnist Red Smith once said that writing a regular column is easy: “You just rub your finger back and forth across your forehead until blood drips into your eye, and suddenly you get an idea.” I now know that feeling. But the happy truth is that between traffic safety news, national and regional conferences, social media, and new studies, the problem has not been finding topics to write about, but keeping up with essential information and perspectives that parents of teen drivers need.
Looking back on that first post on 9/2/09, I suppose I could say “Mission Accomplished.” But then I start thinking about the three million new teens who get drivers licenses each year in the United States, and where their parents are getting their information about the dangers of teen driving and how to supervise their sons and daughters. “Mission Accomplished” turns in “So Much To Do, So Little Time.”
If you all will keep reading, I will keep going! Thanks, and we hope you like our new look!
