Hopefully you like us on Facebook and participate in our on-going discussion about traffic safety.  We post photos of students, driving tips, and more on our page.  On November 19th, we had a mom write a post that brought many of us to tears.  Below is photo of the Cavelli family and the post from mom:

“Thank you DrivingMBA for providing our son with the skills on what to do to avoid accidents. Last night we almost lost our son Jason in a head on collision. The car that would have hit him was traveling so fast on the wrong side of the road that our son had only seconds to successfully avoid the collision and handle his car without loosing control. The other drivers behind him saw his maneuver and were also lucky to avoid the collision. This Thanksgiving I am most thankful to have the opportunity to have him at our table celebrating with the family, than us planning a funeral.
Drivers need to be aware that their actions do have consequences and those can be of a fatal nature. No family needs to lose a loved one because of their stupidity.  Again my husband and I are most thankful for your teachings.”

Students can’t learn what to do in these situations in the “minimum” that the state requires.  The state of Arizona, in particular, has NO real requirements for a person, no matter what their age to get a license.  A teenager is eligible for their learners permit at the age of 15 years and 6 months and they need to hold their permit for a minimum of 6 months from the date that the permit is issued.  There are no requirements for formal driver training, so parents can “work with their student” as they see fit and accumulate 30 hours ofpractice driving before their teen takes the skills test.  I can ASSURE you folks, that there are many parents who simply DO NOT get the minimum requirements in.  There are kids on our roadways that have less than 10 hours of supervised driving under their belt and they have a license in this state.

For 2010 (the latest crash facts available) in the state of Arizona, the number of drivers between the ages of 15 and 24 killed in auto crashes was 59, and another 38 were passengers in that age group.  The number of injuries in that age group, were 7,865 and another 3,726 were injured as passengers.  While these may be just numbers to you, over 10,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 24, the most at risk age, sustained injuries as a result of vehicle collisions.  It is not always death that is the consequence.  Sometimes it is injuries, injuries that change lives forever.  Ask yourself, are all the “other” priorities that important including saving a few bucks by not providing your child the best driver training they can get worth it?  Mrs. Cavelli would beg to differ with you.