Celebrity Mom Niki Taylor Encourages Parents to Talk to Their Teens About Safe Driving
To kick off National Teen Driver Safety Week, Taylor helps raise awareness of the teen driving issue with a new online parent resource
BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Oct. 19 -- As part of National Teen Driver Safety Week, supermodel, car crash survivor and mother of two teenagers, Niki Taylor has teamed up with State Farm® to share an important message with parents: how you talk to your teens about safe driving can significantly affect the likelihood of your teen having a tragic crash.
Car crashes remain the No. 1 cause of death among teens; however many teen driver-related injuries and deaths are preventable. The goal of National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW), Oct. 18-24, is to raise awareness of this issue and provide solutions to teen driving deaths.
According to State Farm's claims database, addressing teen driver safety in October is especially timely. From 2003 - 2007 October averaged the highest number of teen vehicle crashes and on average the number of 16- and 17-year-old driver claims involving injury or collision increases nearly 20 percent in October as compared to other months.
As part of their efforts to address the issue, State Farm and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia formed the Young Driver Research Initiative (YDRI) to reduce teen driver deaths through scientific research. A new study from the YDRI, published on Sept. 28, 2009 in the medical journal Pediatrics, reveals that the way parents communicate to their teens about safe driving can strongly influence their teens' likelihood of a car crash.
The study is based on the National Young Driver Survey of more than 5,500 teenagers. The study, "Associations Between Parenting Styles and Teen Driving, Safety-Related Behaviors and Attitudes", revealed that teens who said their parents set clear rules, paid attention to whom they were with and where they were going, and did so in a supportive way were:
-- Half as likely to crash -- Twice as likely to wear seatbelts -- 71 percent less likely to drive while intoxicated -- 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while driving
"This research is significant because it shows the profound effect parent-teen interactions have on a teen's likelihood to crash," says Kenneth Ginsburg, MD, MSEd, co-author of the study. "Once they're behind the wheel, teens have ultimate responsibility for their behavior, but kids who said their parents set rules in a supportive way were half as likely to be in a crash compared with teens that saw their parents as less involved."
To highlight these new research findings, State Farm, together with The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, developed an online resource to help guide parents about how to talk to their teens about safe driving. The resource, housed on www.statefarm.com/teendriving, includes teen driving facts and statistics, an interactive quiz, video demonstrations, and research-based tips for parents.
"State Farm is committed to saving lives, and we value these studies to help us better understand the factors behind teen crashes. We intend to provide real solutions," says Laurette Stiles, State Farm's Vice President of Strategic Resources. "Using what we've learned from these latest findings, we want to help parents keep their teens safe. The new online resource provides parents with important tips for setting rules that are most likely to protect their teens."
To help reach parents with this important message, State Farm has teamed with supermodel Niki Taylor, who has a personal connection to the teen driving issue. In 2001, Taylor was critically injured in a car crash when the driver of the car reached for his cell phone and lost control of the vehicle before running into a utility pole. After numerous operations and substantial physical therapy, Taylor has recovered from the accident and now wants to help bring attention to the issue.
"As the mother of two teenage sons, and a car crash survivor, I know first hand the gravity of this issue," says Taylor, "I'm proud to be working with State Farm on this initiative and to help inform other parents about the simple steps we can take to keep our kids safe on the road."
Taylor is the mother of two 14-year-old boys and is known as one of the most successful international models of all time. She most recently co-hosted the television show, "Make Me a Supermodel," on the Bravo network.
To learn more about National Teen Driver Safety week or to view the online parent resource, please visit: www.statefarm.com/teendriving.
About National Teen Driver Safety Week
In 2007, Congress has passed a resolution establishing every third week in October as National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW). NTDSW raises awareness about the tragedy of teen vehicle crashes, the leading cause of death for young people in the U.S., and it sparks communication among teenagers, their parents and civic leaders about the causes of and solutions to teen crashes. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies®, which have an ongoing teen driver research alliance and outreach initiative, played a key role in the designation.
About the Young Driver Research Initiative
Motor vehicle crashes remain the No. 1 cause of death among teens in the United States. Teen drivers (ages 16 to 19) have fatal crashes at four times the rate of adult drivers (ages 25 to 69). To reduce injury and death from young driver-related crashes through scientific research and outreach, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies® formed an alliance called the Young Driver Research Initiative (YDRI). These papers as well as other recent research from CHOP and State Farm are described in a just-released report called Driving Through the Eyes of Teens: A Closer Look. For more information, visit www.chop.edu/youngdrivers or www.statefarm.com/teendriving
About State Farm®:
State Farm insures more cars and homes than any other insurer in the U.S., is the leading insurer of watercraft and is also a leading insurer in Canada. State Farm's 17,700 agents and 68,600 employees serve 81 million policies and accounts - more than 78.7 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada, and more than 1.9 million bank accounts. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No. 31 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com® or in Canada statefarm.ca®.
About The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric health care professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking third in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu/.
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