Keep teen drivers alive by limits

• More than 50 teenagers are killed each year in traffic accidents in Wisconsin.
• 16- to 19-year-old drivers are more likely to be in an auto crash than any other age group.
• While teen drivers account less than 5 percent of licensed drivers, they're involved in more than 10 percent of all car crashes.

Would you like to help eliminate a leading cause of death in our country? What price to pay if it could be done? If a law could be passed that would save 2,500 lives a year, should it be done?

Despite an overall decrease in traffic deaths, more than 50 teenagers are killed each year in traffic accidents in Wisconsin. Extrapolate this to all 50 states and you have over 2,500 traffic-related teen fatalities each year. You read or hear about them every week.

In 2012, based on data from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 57 teens were killed in traffic accidents in Wisconsin that year. For two-thirds of these teens, it was their first and last accident.

My first high school "reunion" in 1966 was held at a funeral home three months after graduation. A friend of mine, who had been a state-champion wrestler, was killed in a traffic accident after rolling his car off the highway and into a culvert.

Department of Transportation data shows that 16- to 19-year-old drivers are more likely to be in an auto crash than any other age group, including the over-65 group, wihch actually has the lowest crash percentage. Chances are that one out of 11 teen drivers will be involved in an auto accident.

While teen drivers account less than 5 percent of licensed drivers, they're involved in more than 10 percent of all car crashes. Most teens killed or seriously injured in a traffic accident were riding a car driven by another teen. Automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for 16- to 19-year-olds.

Raising the minimum driving age to 20 would eliminate this leading cause of death, but that probably isn't going to happen. There are actions. however, that adults who parent teens can take to help keep them safe:

For each year over 16, the odds of a teen driver being in an accident decrease. Consider delaying by a year or two the granting your permission to get the license. Each year of added neurological growth and consequent maturity helps tremendously.

If you give permission to apply for the license and your teen passes the test, share this column with them and feel free to set strict diving limits with firm consequences.

The first limit is simple. If you dare to drink and drive, you're done driving. Period.

Next, ban all cell-phone use while driving. Check their phone to ensure compliance. Feel free to ask, "Were you driving when you made this call?"

Remember, if you're paying the bill, it's your phone, which you, out of the goodness of your heart, have placed on loan to him or her. If you're not paying the bill, check it anyway. Tell them it's a price paid for being loved.

If they say, "Don't you trust me?" respond, "Just so you know, I was your age once. This is my way of helping you grow to be my age so you can do this to your kids."

And, above all, set a good example for your cell-phone use when driving. Using a cell phone makes for a distracted driver at any age. Attorneys for traffic injury plaintiffs love distracted drivers, while auto insurance companies do not.

It can be a cruel world. Your teen, despite what he or she may think, is not invincible. Set limits because you love them and let them know it.

— David Moscinski is an Appleton

resident. He can be reached at pcletters@postcrescent.com