Driving in general and teen driving in particular have lots of acronyms and abbreviations: GDL, STANDUP, IID (that’s ignition interlock device), MPG, MPH, BAC, DUI, DWI, FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System), DOT, NHTSA, AAA, and many others. I would like to introduce a new one for parents of teen drivers: PACTS.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety has issued its annual national report on the status of state highway safety laws. The report measures each state’s laws against 15 parameters and identifies where states can improve their rules. The report also shows the basis for the organization’s unflagging support of the Safe Teen and Novice Driver Uniform Protection (STANDUP) Act (to now be reintroduced in the 112th Congress), which seeks to use federal highway funds as an incentive for each state to recognize the irrefutable evidence that these minimum standards save lives, and adopt them as their minimum rules. Here is a link to the report: Click here to see the full 2011 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws.
So what does PACTS stand for? I fashioned this acronym from the following facts in this new report (page 25):
- “Fatal crashes are 21 percent lower for 15-to-17 year olds drivers when prohibited from having any teenage passengers in their vehicles”;
- “Twenty-eight percent of young drivers aged 15-to-20 who were killed in crashes in 2009 had a BAC [blood alcohol content] of .08 or higher [.02 being the general measure of being impaired];
- “The greatest incidence (20 percent) of teenage motor vehicles crash deaths occur from 9PM to midnight”;
- Teen drivers are “the most likely group to engage in text messaging while driving (36 percent)” and texting “increases the risk of a safety-critical driving event by 23.2 percent”; and
- “In 2009, more than half (52 percent) of the young drivers killed were unrestrained….”
That is: Passengers, Alcohol, Curfews, Texting, and Seat belts — five leading causes of teen driver crashes and fatalities. PACTS.
Maybe the last thing we need is another acronym, but maybe also this is a more easily remembered way for parents to bear in mind the causes of teen driver accidents and fatalities. Maybe parents can take a small piece of paper, write “PACTS” on it, and tape the paper to the car keys. Or the garage door. Or the dashboard. Or their cellphone.
Q.E.D.
