TEACH THEM WELL; AutoWeek Teen Driving Safety Summit.(News)

Byline: KEVIN A. WILSON

Aiming to act as a catalyst for change and as a megaphone to amplify those working to improve driver education in America, AutoWeek hosted the inaugural Teen Driving Safety Summit on Aug. 28 at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Sponsored by Dodge and the PDMC Motorsports program at Oakland University, the all-day event featured morning speakers and an afternoon driving program conducted by the Richard Petty Driving Experience (RPDE).

The latter exercise exposed the 250 teens, parents and professionals who attended to the kind of skills-based instruction in crash avoidance and car control that advocates believe would reduce the number of crashes on the road if experienced by every licensed driver, rather than the small percentage reached today.

Traffic carnage was chronicled by Dr. Ricardo Martinez, an emergency-room physician and former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Motor vehicles are the leading cause of death by injury and the leading cause of all deaths-outpacing all diseases and injuries-among Americans ages three to 44.

"Deaths are just the tip of the iceberg,'' Martinez said. "For every one of the more than 42,000 fatalities, 21 more people are injured severely enough to be hospitalized, and 309 need at least some medical care.'' Crashes are the leading cause of head and spinal injuries resulting in long-term disability.

Martinez said NHTSA has focused on adding safety technology-from airbags to stability control-to vehicles rather than improved driver training, because mandating safety equipment gives the federal government "the best bang for the buck.''

Vehicles are regulated at a national level; driver's license requirements are state-by-state, complicating a national approach to training. The cost of safety equipment falls to carmakers and buyers, not to government. At NHTSA's urging, states have responded with measures such as seatbelt laws, stepped-up enforcement of drunk-driving laws and graduated driver licensing (GDL). Skills-based instruction, however, is generally not required, even with GDL.