Connecticut DMV Using National Teen Driver Safety Week To Keep Teens Safe

HARTFORD, CT (WCBS 880) - An all-out effort is under way in Connecticut to boost communication between parents and teenagers as the teens prepare to get their driver's licenses.

WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau On The Story

Bill Seymour of the Connecticut DMV says parents need to enforce restrictions on these young drivers now and emphasize the number one distraction that causes most fatalities.

"The parent needs to be sure with the teen that they have emphasized and were clear there is to be no texting and there is to be no talking on the phone while in the car," Seymour told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau. "We want to create a new and revised agreement or pledge, sometimes they're called contracts, that teens and parents have in which the teen pledges to behave a certain way behind the wheel, with safety in mind at all times, and there are certain repercussions at home if that doesn't happen."

Seymour says parents need to understand speed limits are higher and cars more complex than in the days they took their driving tests.

He says, in the last three years, 28 young teenage drivers have been killed in crashes on Connecticut roads.

A series of high-profile teen-driver crashes in 2007 triggered intensive public awareness and a teen driving law-changing campaign in 2008.

Adopted into law, the changes include longer periods of passenger restrictions for teen drivers, an earlier 11 p.m. curfew time for these drivers to be off the road except for certain situations, harder penalties through increased fines and license suspensions for violators of the laws, rigorous training requirements for study and on-the-road practice, and a mandated parent-teen information session about safe driving and teen development.

National Teen Driver Safety Week runs from October 16-22.

Have you seen distracted drivers on the road? What are they doing? Share your story in the comments section below.