Safe Roads: Jeremy’s bad day

In March, 1,600 newspapers carried a weeklong series of Zits comic strips on the dangers of texting and driving, produced in cooperation with AAA.

Zits creators Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman said their experiences as parents and distracted drivers inspired the series.

“This whole generation has been programmed to respond to beeps and warnings and ringtones, and cellphones are the biggest offender. It’s Pavlovian," said Scott, 55, the father of two daughters, ages 17 and 9. Borgman, 57, raised five teens.

The strips appear on TeenDriving.AAA.com, which also features Zits comic strips of 16-year-old character Jeremy learning how to drive

“Read Zits responsibly and definitely don’t text about it while driving,” the creators wrote on their website, www.zitscomics.com.

If there’s a teen of Jeremy’s age in your home, consider this advice from Keys2Drive, the AAA guide to teen driver safety:

Gauge whether your teen is ready to drive without you. Even if your teen is legally old enough to get a license, you’re the best judge of readiness, and you decide whether your teen gets licensed.

Require ‘check-ins.’ Each time your teen wants to drive, require a check-in with you before handing over the keys. Make sure your teen gives you information such as destinations, routes, number of passengers, check-in points, and return time.

Log at least 100 hours. Your teen might obtain an intermediate driver license before reaching that number. This does not mean your young driver no longer needs to practice, though. Solo driving is actually the riskiest phase for your teen, so stay engaged.

Hands-free fallacy. Studies have shown that driving performance is lowered and the level of distraction is higher for drivers who are heavily engaged in cell phone conversations. The use of a hands-free device does not lower distraction levels. The percentage of vehicle crashes and near-crashes attributed to dialing is nearly identical to the number association with talking or listening.

Crash diet. If you are eating in your vehicle while driving, you are focusing on your food and not on your driving. You are not only chewing and swallowing; you are also opening packages, unwrapped and re-wrapping food, reaching, leaning, spilling, wiping, and cleaning yourself or your vehicle. Your are safer when you stop to eat or drink.

Turning knobs. Making destination entries on an in-vehicle navigation system, radio surfing, or adjusting climate controls put you in danger of a vehicle crash.

More to do

Promise to provide and maintain a safe vehicle.
Set clear rules and expectations about driving.
Continue to periodically ride along with your teen to review progress and ensure you are comfortable with your teen’s driving habits.
Gradually introduce new driving privileges.
Continue to be a driving role model through leading by example.
Offer feedback in a calm, respectful manner.
Continue to coach in a variety of driving conditions, including in the rain and at night, as well as on highways, country roads and in heavy traffic.
Reiterate limits on passengers and nighttime driving restrictions. As your teen progresses, you can relax them gradually, but stay engaged.
Implement the AAA StartSmart Parent-Teen Driving Agreement even if your teen is driving alone. You’ll both still benefit from spelling out family rules regarding driving.
Sign up for AAA StartSmart an online newsletter that’ll help you and your teen learn more about becoming a safe driver.

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