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(NAPSI)-One of parents' greatest fears for their teens is safety in a motor vehicle-outranking concerns over sexual activity, alcohol consumption and drug use-according to a new Harris Interactive survey commissioned by the Chrysler Group. There are steps you can take to help keep teen drivers on the road to safety.
Compared to other health or safety risks, such as pregnancy, suicide, and drug or alcohol abuse, nearly half of parents of teens point to driving safety issues as their primary worry-referencing driving safely and motor vehicle crashes.
The parents are not wrong. Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens and one-third of all 16-year-old licensed drivers were involved in a motor vehicle crash in one recent year.
To help keep teens safe, consider the following safety tips for parents:
• Take your teen out of the driv- er's seat and consider alternate transportation (public transportation, taxi or limo) for the evening.
• Require your teen and all passengers to always buckle up.
• Limit the number of passengers with whom your teen drives.
• Remind teens to take extra care when driving at night.
• Insist that your teen obey all the rules of the road, including never speeding.
• Remember that the legal drinking age is 21. Insist that your teen never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or ride in a car with friends who are under the influence.
To help protect young people, the Chrysler Group's Road Ready Teens program offers tips and tools for parents to help ease teens into driving, including a free guide that outlines how to set and enforce driving rules at home. Based on research and principles advocated by the nation's top safety organizations, the program helps teens gain the necessary driving experience and maturity behind the wheel before tackling high-risk driving situations.
Many of the program's recommendations have been applied to graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws. States with the strongest GDL laws have seen reductions of teen crashes of up to 35 percent.
In addition, Chrysler released a new online video game, "StreetWise Version 2.0." It lets teens experience high-risk situations in an entertaining, safe, virtual environment while learning critical lessons about the consequences of high-risk decisions behind the wheel.
The car company is even sponsoring an online sweepstakes featuring the game through June 14, 2007 at www.roadreadysweeps.com.
The game, the parent's guide and other resources are available at no cost at www.roadreadyteens. org.
According to a survey, 64 percent of parents believe the most common risk factor for teens and car crashes is not enough experience behind the wheel.