KDOR

TOPEKA–The Kansas Division of Vehicles has teamed up with State Farm® and Cenex to launch a new program that provides parents and guardians with a simple, easy-to-follow plan designed to help teens develop safe driving habits.

“According to the CDC and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, young drivers in Kansas, between the ages of 16 and 19 years old, are more than twice as likely to crash as drivers in other age groups due to inexperience,” said Director of Vehicles, Lisa Kaspar. “Parents play a critical role in their children’s education and this guide encourages parents to expose teenagers to a variety of enhanced supervised driving experiences to help them become knowledgeable and safe drivers.”

The Parent’s Supervised Driving Program guide is packed with information and lessons on driving basics, parental pointers, and licensing qualifications that are helpful to parents of new drivers. The program is supplemented by the RoadReady® mobile app, which can easily and accurately track the required supervised driving time of 50 hours, including 10 hours of night driving.

Last year, more than 43,000 Kansas teens sought instruction (learner’s) permits, and the department wanted to provide parents with a resource geared toward skill development and expanding the conditions and time that teens drive with their parents prior to driving independently.

The program focuses on the role of the parent in the teen driver education process and encourages parents and teens to drive together in a variety of weather conditions, unfamiliar settings, city and heavy traffic routes, and also various times of day. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm study, Driving Through the Eyes of Teens, teen drivers whose parents are highly involved in the teen driver education process were half as likely to get in a car crash, 71 percent less likely to drive intoxicated, 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while driving, and twice as likely to wear seatbelts.

“Getting a driver’s license is a special moment in a teen’s life, but it often causes increased anxiety for parents,” said Ed Gold, State Farm Advertising Director. “Research tells us the single most important thing parents can do to help their teens stay safe on the road is to provide as much supervised practice behind the wheel as possible. We hope this new resource will help parents and teens make the most of this time together.”

As part of its commitment to safety education, CHS Inc. – and its Cenex® brand – helped fund The Parent’s Supervised Driving Program through sponsorship advertising. “Getting a drivers license is an exciting moment in a teen’s life, but it demands a new level of responsibility. Practice and preparation are key components to new driver success,” said Akhtar Hussain, CHS refined fuels marketing manager.

Emily Stein, President Safe Roads Alliance, said “Parents are the key to assuring the safety of teen drivers. The more involved the parents are at this important phase when a teen is learning to drive, the more likely it will be that these teens will not be involved in a collision once they are driving on their own.”

The free program guide is available at driver licensing offices around the state. It is also available on the Kansas Department of Revenue website at: www.ksrevenue.org. The RoadReady mobile app is available for iPhones at the App Store.