Advocate for Change

We are on a mission to keep teens safe in cars. This mission needs community leaders and policymakers, as well as teens, parents, teachers, coaches, principals, and others. Just as it takes a village to raise a child; it takes a fully realized grassroots effort to motivate change to keep teens safe on the roads. You can make change happen, one community at a time.

• Advocate for a Better GDL for Your State. It’s hard to get a law passed on your own. Here are some things you can do to help improve the law in your state:
  • Each state has different laws in place to keep teen drivers safe. To learn more about the current law in your state, visit http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/license_laws.html
  • Check the Internet for any pending legislation in your state or on Capitol Hill. See if the bill or bills align with recommended Minimum GDL Provisions. Contact the sponsor’s office to check on the status of the bill. Ask how you can specifically help.
  • Reach out to other organizations that typically have a stake in protecting teen drivers, such as injury prevention organizations, insurance companies, AAA, your state’s Highway Safety office, etc. to see if you can partner to support the bill and to better understand the legislative environment concerning this type of legislation.
  • Develop a clear message point you would like to share from what you have learned from this site. Use this message  point to call or write your legislator, being very clear about what piece of legislation you support and why. State legislators really appreciate hearing from their constituents.
• Support National Teen Driver Safety Week (NTDSW) -- October 14-20, 2012. This federally-mandated week is designed to increase awareness of teen driver safety in communities across the nation. The theme for 2011 was supporting parents in teaching their teens to drive. This includes helping them navigate the practice driving phase, as well as closely monitoring their teens as they begin driving alone. According to research conducted by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Companies®, teens who say their parents set rules and monitor their driving in a helpful, supportive way are half as likely to crash and twice as likely to buckle up as teens with less involved parents.  For other ideas, download Community Action: Support National Teen Driver Safety Week  and visit Parents Are the Key.

• Support Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. Learn more about this international initiative to increase road safety awareness and change sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO).