Page 21 - AAA Central Penn – AAA Now! – September/October 2016

WITH YOU ON
THE ROAD OF LIFETM
AAA
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Sending Your Child off to College This Fall?
AAA Provides These Car Care Tips for the College Bound
Before sending a son or daughter off to college with an automobile, AAA encourages parents to sit down with the child and discuss a plan for proper vehicle maintenance, as well as how to deal with unexpected problems when parental rescue is more than just a few minutes away.
Check and Maintain Tires
Tires are one of the easiest components of
a vehicle to maintain, but they are frequently overlooked until something goes wrong.
Every student should have a tire pressure gauge in their vehicle, know where it is located, and understand how to use it properly. Tire pressures should be checked at least once a month when
the tires are cold.
Know the Vehicle’s Maintenance Schedule
Make sure your student’s car is current with
all maintenance items prior to sending them off to college, and determine if any future required services will come due while they are away.
AAA recommends that parents and teens review
the owner’s manual and maintenance schedule together, then create a shared calendar with reminders so both are aware of any upcoming required maintenance or services.
Find a Repair Facility Near the College
It is important for parents to help teens identify an auto repair shop they can trust near their school in case routine servicing or unexpected repairs become necessary. This should be done ahead of the time it would be needed. If unfamiliar with the area around a college, visit AAA.com/AAR to locate nearby
AAA Approved Auto Repair facilities. When first arriving at the college, AAA recommends parents and students visit the selected repair shop so the child is familiar with its location.
Prepare for Roadside Emergencies
Make sure the teen’s vehicle has a well-stocked roadside emergency kit with contents suitable
for local weather conditions during the school year. For added peace of mind, provide teens with membership to a motor club that provides reliable
roadside assistance, such as AAA. Remember, AAA’s many benefits, including battery service and jump starting, lock-out service, flat tire service, bringing fuel if your child runs out, and towing, are available to members no matter whose vehicle they are in, so parents won’t have to worry about their teen being stranded in a friend’s vehicle without access to emergency road service.
Texting While Driving – A Serious Threat to Teen Drivers
June of this year marked the start of what’s known as the “100 Deadliest Days” (the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day during which the teen crash rate usually increases). Some readers may recall press releases at that time about the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s announcement of the completion of Phase II of its “Teen Driver Crash Causation” study, which contained some interesting, albeit disappointing news about crashes involving teens.
This study analyzed police-reported crash statistics as well as recent crash videos to determine trends in teen driver distraction, and found that texting and the use of social media while driving is actually on the rise amongst teen drivers, despite the prevalence of anti-texting campaigns sponsored by various community- minded organizations over the past few years. It also confirms past findings, which show distraction remains a factor in 60 percent of crashes involving teenage drivers.
While the summer driving season has now come
to an end, this does not mean that teens, their parents and other roadway users should relax their vigilance. Motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for teenagers all year round. They are most at risk during the first three years of driving, and especially during the first month after obtaining their license. Texting and use of social media while driving, exponentially increases risks that are already high due to the driver’s lack of experience behind the wheel.
Distracted teen drivers put everyone at risk, not just themselves. The Foundation study also shows that, in crashes that involve a teen driver, the vast majority of resulting injuries and fatalities occur with occupants of another vehicle (50 percent and 30 percent respectively). Seventeen percent of injuries, and 27 percent of deaths occurred within the teen’s vehicle. Another 2 percent of injuries and 10 percent of deaths involved pedestrians, bicyclists or other non-motorists.
Even though there have been many advances in the effort to improve teen driver safety over the last
20 years, continued efforts in this area remain a top priority for AAA.
Tools and resources to help parents safeguard their teen driver, and to coach teens through the learning-to-drive process can be found on AAA’s award-winning website TeenDriving.AAA.com. Most popular features of the site are the downloadable Parent-Teen Driving Agreement
and the online AAA StartSmart program. The AAA Central Penn Driving School also provides top-rated behind-the-wheel and classroom instruction for novice drivers in Lancaster County.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
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Now!