South Carolina Attorney Urges Parents To Talk With Teen Drivers About Seat Belt Use

Columbia, South Carolina (PRWEB) October 26, 2010

South Carolina personal injury lawyer Bert Louthian says parents should take the time to remind their teen drivers about the vital importance of wearing seat belts.

?Unfortunately, I think young and inexperienced drivers tend to see seat belts as optional,? says Louthian, a partner in The Louthian Law Firm, P.A., which represents car accident and truck accident victims.

?With National Teen Driver Safety Week having just occurred, it?s the ideal time to remind teens that seat belts are not optional. Instead, they?re required by law and absolutely necessary for protecting them if they are in a motor vehicle accident.?

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), teen drivers buckle up less frequently than any other age group. In a 2006 NHTSA survey, only 76 percent of teens reported observing seat belt use.

That?s an alarming statistic, considering the high rate of serious injuries and fatalities suffered by those who are not buckled up at the time of a car or truck collision, Louthian says.

Through Oct. 18, 2010, a total of 466 people have died this year in automobile accidents on South Carolina interstate routes, highways and streets, according to the S.C. Department of Public Safety (SCDPS), including 29 deaths so far in the month of October.

Out of the state?s 2010 traffic fatalities, 256 victims were reported to not be wearing seat belts, or roughly 55 percent, the SCDPS reports.

?Teen drivers need to know the risk of a catastrophic or fatal injury if they drive without a seat belt,? Louthian says. ?They should also know that studies show that wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of suffering a fatal injury by as much as 50 percent.?

According to the SCDPS, seat belts help to prevent ejection, shift car crash forces to the strongest parts of the body?s structure, spread forces over a wide area of the body, allow the body to slow down gradually and protect the head and spinal cord from injury.

Since 2005, South Carolina has followed a primary enforcement seat belt law, meaning that a police officer has authority to stop and ticket a driver for not wearing a seat belt. In the wake of the law, seat belt use has increased from 69.7 percent in 2005 to 81.5 percent in 2009, the SCDPS reports.

?The question is ? are your teen drivers getting the message? Now is as good of a time as any to make sure they are getting it,? Louthian says. ?As a personal injury lawyer, I have witnessed the devastating impact of car and truck accidents on victims and their families, and that?s why I feel strongly that we need to make sure our young drivers are driving safely.?

About The Louthian Law Firm

The Louthian Law Firm, P.A., of Columbia, S.C., has been obtaining fair compensation for personal injury victims since 1959. The firm was founded by Herbert Louthian, who has more than 50 years of trial experience and is licensed to practice in all courts in South Carolina. The Louthian Law Firm focuses on personal injury cases involving medical malpractice; car, truck and motorcycle accidents; and other serious and catastrophic injuries throughout South Carolina. For a free, confidential case evaluation, contact the firm by phone at (866) 410-5656 or through its online form.

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Texas Transportation Institute Announces Teen Survey Showing Low Awareness of Driving Dangers

(Vocus/PRWEB) March 09, 2011

Local teens are largely unaware of the dangers they face as new drivers, according to a recent survey, so they?ve launched the peer-to-peer Teens in the Driver Seat program to help each other become safer drivers.

More than 50,000 teen drivers in Georgia each year are involved in traffic crashes, by far the number-one killer of young people. Researchers attribute the crashes to inexperience, combined with one or more of the five main risks that plague young drivers: driving at night, distractions (primarily cell phones, texting and other teen passengers), speeding, low seat belt use, and alcohol.

Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute surveyed Rockdale High School students in February, The findings illustrate how much they know about driving risk factors and how often they engage in risky driving behavior.

????Nighttime driving is the most common danger that young drivers face, yet it?s the one risk they know the least about.
????Only 3 percent of the teens surveyed were aware of the danger, yet 25 percent say they often drive after late at night.Nearly three-fourths of those surveyed recognize that talking or texting on a cell phone while driving is dangerous, but nearly one in five of them say they do it anyway.
????Only 9 percent recognize that riding without a seatbelt is dangerous, and just over half say that they have ridden as passengers without buckling up.
????Fewer than 20 percent of teens surveyed could name more than three of the top five dangers.

Researchers conducted a similar survey at Duluth High School in 2007. Results suggest that Rockdale students are generally more aware of driving dangers, especially with respect to cell phone use while driving, a problem which has received increased attention in recent years.

Unlike other safety initiatives targeting young people behind the wheel, TDS involves teens directly to help develop and deliver the right safety messages.

?As young people, we listen to each other and we are influenced a lot by our friends,? says Gedieon Addisu, a leader of the TDS program at Rockdale High School. ?Any message is always going to mean a lot more if it comes from someone your own age. That?s what makes the TDS program work.?

TTI developed TDS and provides the science, materials and support for the program, while each student group determines how the program will work in their school. TDS was originally launched in Texas, where more than 400 schools now have active programs. After a pilot effort at Duluth High School in 2007, the program has spread to several more schools, most recently at Rockdale.

Teen driver crashes have been on a decline statewide and nationwide in recent years, but the percentage of teen-driver fatal crashes happening at night in Georgia is up by 18 percent ? nearly twice the national average ? underscoring how nighttime driving is the greatest danger facing young drivers.

?Most young drivers don?t know that they?re far more likely to die in a crash than people in other age groups,? says Program creator Russell Henk of TTI. ?But they need to hear the message from a source they trust; they need to hear it from each other. That?s what Teens in the Driver Seat is all about.?

The Teens in the Driver Seat program is the nation?s first peer-to-peer program focused exclusively on driving safety, and it is available to Georgia schools through funding support from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

?The Department is pleased to be a partner in helping to promote teen driving safety,? said GDOT Commissioner Vance C. Smith, Jr. ?Reducing accidents for everyone on our roadways is an important goal for the Department, and we are proud to work with young people to give them the tools to help educate each other about being safe when driving, whether they are behind the wheel or just passengers.?

Schools interested in starting the program can learn more at http://www.t-driver.com.

MORE INFORMATION:

Jill Goldberg, 404-631-1828 (office) - Georgia DOT

Cindy Ball, 770-860-4226 (office) - Rockdale County Schools

Bernie Fette, 979-777-7532 (cell) - Texas Transportation Institute

http://www.t-driver.com

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