Kids and Cars: Teen Driver Safety

News of teen car crash victims invariably get me choked up, but I have recently found myself thinking even more than usual about teenage drivers. I’m sure this is in large part due to the fact that my oldest child has now started talking about what car she hopes to drive in the not-too-distant future. I’m pretty sure it’s also because of the recent news detailing the incredibly sad local story about teenage sisters involved in a fatal crash.

But to be honest, this time of year always makes me think about the risks involved in newly licensed teens getting behind the wheel. I’m not sure why the time of year should make a difference – since the premature death of a teenager is without exception an horribly sad occasion in any season. But there’s apparently something even more devastatingly newsworthy about covering the senseless loss of life when it happens on prom night or just after graduation when teens should be excitedly preparing to embark on their future, not being laid to rest.

Needless to say, my heart always goes out to the families and friends of the more than 3000 teens who die in motor vehicle crashes each year. At the same time, my thoughts also turn immediately towards helping make sure you and every other parent (myself included) know what parents can do to protect our own children from such a tragedy.

It’s important to start by being aware of just how common it is for teenagers to be involved in motor vehicle crashes. Not only do car crashes continue to rank as the number one cause of death for teens, but 16 to 19 year olds are four times more likely to be fatally injured than 25 to 69 year olds.

Having said that, I feel the need to assure you (and my own teenagers, if they happen to read this) that my goal here isn’t to convince you that you should take away the car keys until your child reaches the age of 25. Rather, it’s to tell you that there is good evidence to support the notion that what you do as a parent, including the limits you set when it comes to your teen’s introduction to driving, is exceedingly important.

So what can you do to limit your teen’s crash risk? The good news is there’s actually a lot you can do.

  • Practice, practice, practice. Be aware that a teen’s greatest lifetime risk of crashing is in the first 6 months after getting a driver’s license – a risk that is in large part attributed to inexperience. In fact, seventy-five percent of all serious crashes involving teens have been related to three main critical errors of inexperience – lack of scanning for (and responding to) hazards, going too fast for road conditions, and distractions. Based on what we now know, however, the number of supervised hours that teens get behind the wheel before getting their driver’s licenses makes a big difference.
  • Set limits. It should come as no surprise that parents who set appropriate boundaries –– both on and off the road – have been shown to have a big impact on their children’s health and well being. Teen drivers are no exception. According to a study published in Pediatrics, teen drivers whose parents set and enforced rules were more likely to wear seat belts and less likely to speed, get in crashes, drink and drive, or use cell phones.
  • Help your teen avoid distractions. While it’s a good idea to avoid any and all distractions that stand to interfere with your teen’s undivided attention, there are 2 driving distractions in particular that have been proven to kill teens: cell phones and other teen passengers. In fact, nearly two out of three teen crash deaths for 16-year-old new drivers involve additional teen passengers.
  • Know the rules. Every state is different when it comes to laws about teen driving and learner’s permits. A majority of states – Nebraska included – place restrictions on new drivers in the first 6 to 12 months of driving. Referred to as a Graduated Driver’s License (GDL), such limits as nighttime and passenger restrictions have been proven to reduce crash risk. Nebraska’s GDL restrictions include no driving between midnight and six a.m. until the age of 17, and no passengers other than family members for the first 6 months of driving.
  • Agree upon the rules of the road. This is easiest done by printing out a Parent-Teen Driving Agreement (such as the one from the CDC or Checkpoints) and making sure you and your teen both take it seriously
  • Drive by example. Just as with every other aspect of parenthood, your teen driver will be watching you. Logging lots of supervised practice hours is definitely important for your teen’s future driving safety, but so is serving as a role model by making sure you always wear your seatbelt and put down your cell phone while driving.

For more very valuable information on teen driver safety, I recommend the following sites:

Originally posted on Omaha World Herald’s Live Well Nebraska

A Parent’s Guide to Safe Holiday Travel with Kids

The season for holiday travel is almost upon us, so I thought it best to get down to basics and share some safe and practical travel tips for everyone facing the prospect of packing up the family car or heading off to the airport this holiday season. While I’m all about practicality, I also want to make sure that safety doesn’t inadvertently get left behind (or just plain forgotten) as you set out to share the holidays with family and friends.

Avoid flying objects. While car travel certainly eliminates some of the stress of figuring out how to fit everything you and your children will need for your holiday vacation into a single suitcase (or two), don’t lose sight of the fact that anything in the car that isn’t safely secured can, in the blink of an eye, become a dangerous projectile in the event of a crash. This not only includes unrestrained passengers, but any suitcases and other holiday “essentials” you bring along. To keep all passengers safe, keep all loose objects out of the passenger area of the car – tucked in the trunk or otherwise secured.

Use appropriate restraint. All too often, parents are tempted to compromise on car seats in the name of streamlined travel and efficiency. But the fact of the matter is child passenger safety never takes a holiday. That means that for anyone traveling by car, each and every passenger needs to be appropriately restrained.

  • For infants and children, this includes age-appropriate, correctly installed car seats.
  • Lap-shoulder belts need to be available for all adult passengers, as well as any children riding in booster seats. Simply using a lap belt alone doesn’t suffice when it comes to safety.
  • For those traveling by air, not only should you plan carefully so that your child can be safely restrained on the airplane (which means an FAA approved car safety seat or restraint for all children under 40 pounds), but also at your destination.
  • While most car rental agencies can arrange in advance to have car seats available, it always safest to plan on bringing your own. It may mean more to carry, but car seats are a must-have for holiday travel.

Dress for the occasion. It’s obviously important to make sure that you pack plenty of clothing to suit the climate of wherever you’re headed – especially given that young children are known to be more susceptible to both hot and cold temperatures.

  • For car travel, remember to consider what you’d want to have on hand should your car break down or get stuck along the way. While it’s not recommended that children wear bulky winter coats under their car seat harness straps (since this just adds slack into the harness system), you absolutely want to have coats on hand for any planned (or unplanned) stops along the way.
  • And as someone very accustomed to airplane travel, I can assure you that the most predictable thing about the temperature in the airplane cabin is its unpredictability. Not only is it wise to dress your child (and yourself) in layers, but bring a few extra items in your carry on.

Keep close tabs. Holiday travel inevitably throws off parenting routines. This means that you’ll want to pay extra attention to keeping a close eye on your child.

  • When traveling by car, never leave your child alone or unattended – even for a minute, no matter how much extra time or effort it may take to have the whole family pile out of the car for what you were hoping would be a very quick pit stop.
  • Whether on the road or in the air, also make sure your children have some form of identification with them, that preschoolers (and older) ideally know their own names (first and last) and a phone number, and that you have discussed with your children what to do in the event that you become separated.
  • If your children have already entered the digital age and have cell phones, this is a great time to have them on hand as well.

Originally posted on Omaha World Herald’s Live Well Nebraska

Giving Thanks: Things the Whole Family Can be Thankful For

I bought my turkey this past weekend. Not only did I buy it, but I even took a moment to think about how thankful I am for it. Sure I’m thankful because I love turkey, but also simply because I am fortunate enough to be able to afford a turkey. As a parent, I know full well that taking a simple weekend task like grocery shopping and turning it into a shared reflection on what our family has to be thankful for is likely to lead to some eye-rolling from my tween- and teenage children.

But the fact of the matter is that there’s no better time than the present (i.e. Thanksgiving week) to take a few moments – whether waiting in line at the grocery store or gathered with family and friends around the Thanksgiving table – and reflect on those things in your life for which you’re truly thankful. While trips to Disneyland, ipods, and the latest greatest toddler toys will understandably spring to mind first, I suggest you challenge your children, and yourself, to dig deeper. As a pediatrician and parent, I figured I’d get you started by sharing some of my own, all-too often taken for granted things to be thankful for.

Breathing through your nose. Spoken like a true pediatrician, right? But years of tending to snotty nose colds (my own, my children’s, and others’) has taught me that it’s hard to take time to stop and smell the roses if you can’t breath through your nose. You may think I’m kidding, but I’m not. Just think how many times your child’s (or your own) stuffy nose cold has kept you up at night and caused you misery. Instead of being frustrated by the annual average 6-10 colds that kids catch each year and the fact that we still don’t have a cure for the common cold, I suggest that we all remember to be grateful for each day that we wake up healthy.

Shots. I figure while we’re on the subject of waking up healthy, I’d take this opportunity to give my thanks to modern medicine and all of the medical pioneers that have given us vaccines. No, I’m not a huge fan of needles, and neither are my children. But I have such a healthy respect for the dreadful diseases we are now able to prevent by simply making sure that our children’s (and our own) immunizations are up-to-date that I count each and every shot a blessing, needles and all.

Car Seats. As someone who had 3 kids in just over 3 years – the youngest of whom only just outgrew the need for a car seat at age 10 – I am certainly aware of the parental challenges inherent in the purchasing, installing, and juggling of car seats, especially during holiday travel season. Yet despite having spent every day of the past 10 years overseeing the use of numerous seats of my own, I’m exceedingly grateful for the fact that car seats even exist, much less that they are so incredibly effective in protecting kids from harm. With nothing more important than my children’s health and safety, car seats (and all those who contribute to making sure that children are secured safely) deserve my thanks.

Cell Phones. Yes, I do have tween- and teenage children of my own. And yes, I do face the daily parental challenge posed by a world now dominated by texting tots and teens and threatened by everything from cyberbullying to sexting. But having just returned from a mobile health summit in Washington DC, I am now very, very grateful for cell phones. World thought leaders the likes of Bill Gates, Director of the National Institutes of Health Francis Collins, and the president of the Rockefeller Foundation joined over 2500 attendees from around the world who all share the belief that cell phone technology is the tool by which we will be able to reach the world’s poorest and provide them with access to better health.

Here in the United States, innovative programs like text4baby are making use of the ubiquitous nature of cell phones to put valuable health information and access to local resources right at the fingertips of pregnant women and new moms.

While I will absolutely not be thankful for any cell phones that make their way to my family’s Thanksgiving table, I will nevertheless be grateful that they exist, not just to make my life easier, but improve the health and well-being of those less fortunate than me.

Originally posted on Omaha World Herald’s Live Well Nebraska