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Part III: ‘No easy answers’

Woodstock wrestles with teen driving

 

By SUSAN W. MURRAY and MIKE NEUMANN The Independent

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ndependent is examining teen driving in Woodstock, at Marian Central Catholic High School and Woodstock High School. “Part I: An ‘intolerable’ situation” appeared Feb. 13, and “Part II: ‘Overdriving their capabilities’” appeared Feb. 20. Both are available for readers at www.thewoodstockindependent.com, along with descriptions of police “ride-alongs” near both high schools, a comparison of insurance rates for adults and teens, the full text of Illinois’ new graduated driver’s license law, a look at driving tests and a description of bus options for students.

 

 

The drumbeat of national statistics illustrating the dangers of teen driving reverberates in Woodstock. Seven Marian Central Catholic High School students have lost their lives in traffic accidents since 1999. Local police patrol near Marian and Woodstock High School, checking that students wear their seatbelts, drive within the speed limit and do not drive recklessly. The Woodstock Independent asked school officials, teachers, police officers, parents, students and insurance agents: “What can be done to protect our young drivers?”
“There are no easy answers,” said Marian Superintendent Tom Landers. Everyone interviewed, however, offered ideas for improving the situation.

 


Illinois introduces graduated driver’s licensing program
In August, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed graduated driver’s licensing legislation tightening the requirements for getting a driver’s license and putting new restrictions on teen drivers. Those interviewed praised the restrictions on nighttime driving, the limitation on the number of passengers allowed in a vehicle and the prohibition on cell phone usage.
Increasing the permit phase from three months to nine months also garnered approval.
“More experience is beneficial, especially more experience driving in adverse weather conditions,” said Woodstock police officer Fred Eiselstein, whose Beat 23 includes WHS.
One concern about the new law came up several times.
“I think that what the problem is going to be is that parents won’t spend the 50 hours (of supervised driving time) with their kids, but say they did,” said insurance agent John Jones, noting that some parents did the same when the requirement was 25 hours. “If parents can’t be honest, there’s not much we can do about it,” he added.
According to the Allstate Foundation, graduated driving laws are one of the few things that have been proven to save lives. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimated that graduated driving laws could reduce fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers by 38 percent.

 


Filling the gap in driver’s education
Driver’s education courses teach the basics of learning how to drive, and the state has stretched practice time with an adult from 25 hours to 50.
“If it were up to me,” said Ed Pudlo, a driving instructor for Northwest Suburban Driving School, “students would take another six to 10 hours of defensive driving.”
Many so-called defensive driving classes are offered online; there are just a few throughout the country that put students behind the wheel on a closed course. Drills include taking the vehicle up to 55 mph, slamming on the brakes and learning how to work the brakes to get out of a skid.
Movie stunt coordinator Rick LeFevour had talked to Allstate and State Farm about offering such a course locally, taught by stunt drivers like himself. The two insurance companies appeared interested, perhaps even in offering rate discounts to drivers who took the course. But before LeFevour could continue with the project, his movie work heated up, so the idea is on hold.

 


Parents play the most important role
When the Allstate Foundation interviewed 1,000 15- to 17-year-olds, the teens said that their parents have the strongest influence on (their) driving behavior.
Parents first must weigh the benefit of having another driver versus the teen’s readiness to drive. Woodstock police officer Joshua Fourdyce grew up in a rural part of Illinois and played three sports in high school.
“Being able to drive was a huge help to my parents,” Fourdyce said. Marian’s Dean of Students Chuck Maveus counsels caution. “At 16 years of age, are our young people mature enough to get behind (the wheel of a car) and operate it responsibly?” he asked.
“Parents should sit down with their teens and explain all the new rules,” said Sgt. Caroline Hubbard of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department. Teachers and police officers urged parents to coach their children in controlling speed, driving in ice and snow and plotting the safest, if not necessarily the fastest, route to school, extracurricular activities and friends’ houses.
“Drive by example,” said Hubbard. “If you don’t want your child to use a cell phone while driving, then you don’t use a cell phone while driving.”
Parent Quinn Keefe, whose son drives and attends WHS, saw an added benefit.
“We adults would be a lot safer if we started to do some of the things we’re forcing our children to do,” he said.
“Hold teens accountable for their actions,” said Eiselstein, who observed that some parents don’t make a big deal out of their children getting a speeding ticket. “It’s a big deal if you speed and wrap the car around a telephone pole,” Eiselstein said.
If a teen gets a speeding ticket, Eiselstein advocates taking away the teen’s driving privileges.
“It’s not carte blanche — ‘Here’s a car; do what you want,’” Woodstock Police Chief Robert Lowen said. “Parents should have strict rules about who can be in the car, who the child can ride with and the distance the teen can drive.”

 

Teens listen to the people they know
“Safe driving messages would have more impact if they came from or with a connection to people in their own schools and communities,” the Allstate Foundation reported after interviewing teens.
Jones said that several insurance companies have started doing interviews with young drivers and have found it has decreased claims. Jones meets with teens before they get their licenses.
“I give them a heads-up that if they drive properly, everything is going to be all right. I tell them if they don’t do what’s right, what could happen,” Jones said.
Some large companies are offering incentives to schools that start safe driving programs. State Farm’s Project Ignition gives 25 high schools $2,000 each to create and implement programs to address teen driving issues. The best program receives $10,000 to continue its efforts. The reward for the top programs in the Ford Motor Company and State of Illinois’ Operation Teen Safe Driving is participation in “Ride and Drive” events in which professional drivers drill students in driving exercises, including hazard recognition/accident avoidance, vehicle handling/skid control and speed/space management. WHS participates in Wal-Mart’s Operation Click. Students receive small rewards for wearing their seatbelts in random checks. Based on the seatbelt usage rate, one or two students, chosen randomly, receive a set of keys to try to win a car.
Hubbard has educational materials available and will go to schools upon request. The Woodstock Police Department stands ready to help, as well.
“The department will work with students at either school,” Lowen said.
WHS Principal Corey Tafoya voices the community’s willingness to help improve young drivers’ safety.
He said, “Anything to put a dent into the number-one killer of teenagers is good medicine from our end and well worth it.”

 

New law addresses top concerns


Stat: More than half of the fatal crashes involving new drivers happen between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
New law’s response: A nighttime driving restriction is in place Sunday through Thursday from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Stat: A 16-year-old driver is 86 percent more likely to die in a crash when driving with two passengers than when driving alone and 182 percent more likely to die with three passengers. The rate for 17-year-olds is even higher. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
New law’s response: For the first year of licensing, or until the driver turns 18, the number of passengers is limited to one person under age 20, unless the other passengers are siblings, step-siblings, children or step-children.
Stat: 56 percent of 15- to 17-year-old drivers say they use cell phones while driving. (The Allstate Foundation)
New law’s response: Cell phone use while driving is prohibited except in the case of an emergency to contact a law enforcement agency, health care provider or emergency services agency.
Stat: In 2005, 10 percent of high school students reported that they rarely or never wore seatbelts. (Centers for Disease Control)
New law’s response: All occupants under age 19 must wear seatbelts.

 

 

Two mothers, shared wisdom

 

Every mother experiences the feeling of helplessness when all precautions have been taken, all warnings issued and, still, her child is hurt. Unlike skinned knees and bruised egos, some hurts are irreparable.
Monica and Dan Trueblood lost their two children in a car crash in 2002. One year later, Cindi and Jay Adams’ son, Lucas, died in a car accident, leaving behind his parents and two older sisters.
Both families had established driving rules for their children and the rules for riding with other teens.
“I thought we did all the right things,” said Monica.
The two mothers shared thoughts about improving safety for teen drivers.
“All communities need to look at speed limits,” said Monica. “The speed limits were set when McHenry County was rural, with many fewer people. The limits are 50 to 55 mph. Everybody goes over; they’re all in a hurry.”
The new graduated driver’s license program addresses Cindi’s concerns that there are too many teens in a car and that teens’ seatbelt use is lower than the general population. Illinois’ new teen licensing law also strictly curtails cell phone use, part of Monica’s list of “too many distractions” that includes the radio, CD player, MP3 players and GPS.
The two mothers believe that 16 is too young to have a driver’s license.
“I don’t care how many hours you have behind the wheel with them,” Monica said. “There’s no way they can be prepared (to drive).”
The two further agree that having parents provide their teens’ transportation is a minor problem compared to the risks associated with teen driving.
“What’s wrong with the parents driving them?” Monica asked. “You get to spend more time with your kids.”
They reserved their strongest words for parents.
“It’s very important for parents to know what’s going on,” Cindi said. “You need to be in contact with your teens while they are out. Plans change quickly; you don’t know what could happen next.”
“You need to set the example, even when they’re toddlers,” Monica said she would tell parents. “It is as important, if not more important, to set an example when you’re driving.”
Seeing adults distracted or angry or in a hurry while driving, she said, becomes more and more familiar to them.
“We all need to slow down. We all need to calm down.”
Monica advised parents, “Look at your driving habits, change them and then talk to the kids about the changes you make.”
Cindi and Monica had one final piece of advice: “Tell them every day that you love them.”

 

All driving tests are not equal

Taking the driving test to get a license is a rite of passage. Today, where a teen takes the driving test hinges on where the individual learned to drive and class performance. 
In the state of Illinois, students spend 30 hours in the classroom, six hours driving and six hours observing while another student drives. Roughly 500 students take driver's education at Woodstock High School each year. Fifteen percent of students fail the “behind the wheel” portion of instruction and have to repeat the course, according to instructor John Theriault.
Those students who pass the course take a school-administered driving test that lasts roughly 45 minutes. The test we give at the school is more comprehensive [than the test at the Department of Motor Vehicles] because we have more time to do it,” Theriault said. “We can test on more things.” Fewer than five percent of Woodstock students fail the school's driving test.
WHS students who have earned an “A” or “B” in the driving portion of class and pass the school-administered driving test do not have to take a driving test at the DMV, although they can be pulled out at the DMV when they apply for their licenses and be retested as a spot-check. “It's a good check and balance to what we're doing,” Theriault said.
Between 100 and 120 Marian students take driver’s education through the school. Northwest Suburban Driving School has provided instruction since the beginning of the school year. Since Northwest Suburban is a private driver's education school, all students must take the driving test at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
“At the DMV, they’ll have a line out the door,” Theriault said. The test, according to information on Northwest Suburban's website, involves 5 - 10 minutes of actual driving. The driver starts the vehicle, backs the vehicle, does a turnabout, parks uphill, starts uphill, parks downhill, starts downhill and performs four left and four right turns. Though the test is short, Northwest Suburban instructor Ed Pudlo feels that it is adequate.
“You can tell if a student has good skills in 30 seconds,” Pudlo said. Pudlo said that Northwest Suburban Driving School does not keep statistics on the number of its students who pass the driver's education test at the DMV.

 

School buses: 44 times safer, but teens attracted to driving

Approximately 900 students drive to Woodstock High School and Marian Central Catholic High School every day, according to officials at the two schools. Some students drive because they participate in extracurricular activities or have jobs after school. WHS resource officer Joshua Fourdyce observed that others drive just because they can.
Riding on a school bus is the safer choice, according to Allan F. Williams in his 2002 report, “Teenage Drivers: Patterns of Risk,” for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “On a per-trip basis, students were about 44 times more likely to be killed in a vehicle with a teen driver than while riding on a school bus.”

WHS principal Corey Tafoya estimated that about 500 students drive to school each day. The remainder ride D-200 buses or walk.
Fourdyce and fellow Woodstock police officer Charles Vorderer would like to see the students who could ride the bus or walk to school do just that. Fourdyce speculated that a spike in gas prices might turn some drivers into bus riders. “We could save some gas if they didn't drive,” he said.
Marian's student body comes from all over McHenry County and even southern Wisconsin. The administration recognizes that parents must make a commitment to drive or find another method of transportation. “It's a significant component in the decision-making process [to send a child to Marian],” said Superintendent Tom Landers. As a result, the school has made providing transportation options to its families a priority.
Since 1988, the school has contracted with Jones Bus Service to run four morning and three afternoon routes from three areas: Johnsburg/Spring Grove/Richmond/Hebron; Oakwood Hills/Cary/Algonquin; and Marengo/Huntley/Lake in the Hills. About 160 students ride each day, paying $550 a year or $2.50 a ride. Marian is contributing $80,000 this year to underwrite the service.
For more than 20 years, PACE buses have transported students from Crystal Lake, McHenry, Wonder Lake and Harvard. About 25 students use the service every day, paying 75 cents a ride. 
A handful of Woodstock residents who go to Marian ride District 200 buses.
“The whole issue of transportation comes down to family choices,” said Landers. “The school provides options. Upperclassmen pressure their parents to let them drive, which the school can't control,” he said.

 

Part I: An ‘intolerable’ situation

Part II: ‘Overdriving their capabilities’


This article was published in the February 27, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.